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THE 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



ENRY CLAY. 



BY EPES SARGENT, ESQ. 



NEW EDITION, 

REVISED, ENLARGED, AND BROUGHT DOWN TO THE YEAR 1848, 

BY THE AUTHOR. 




NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY GREELEY & M-'ELRATH, 

TRIBUNE BUILDINGS, 154 NASSAU STREET. 
1848. 



TO 

Dr. WILLIAM TURNER, 

OF NEW YORK, 

At whose suggestion this Life of Henry Clay was originally written, 
it is now gratefully Dedicated. 



PREFACE. 

The first edition of this work appeared, during the autumn of 1842, at which time, 
there was no published memoir of Mr. Clay (so far as the writer's knowledge extended) 
except that by George D. Prentice, Esq., which terminates with the close of John Quincy 
Adams's administration. To this eloquent biographical sketch, the Author takes pleas- 
ure in acknowledging his indebtedness, for a number of interesting facts. 

The new and improved edition of his " Life of Clay," now offered to the public, 
has been carefully revised — some errors have been corrected — several omissions have 
■keen supplied — aud the Memoir has been brought down to the spring of 1848. 

It is hardly necessary to say, that the portrait, which accompanies this edition, is 
from a painting by Linen, taken some twenty years since. It was regarded as a like- 
ness at that time. E. S. 

RoxBURY, Mass., » 
March, 1848. ] 



Eotered, according to Act of Congress, in tbe year 1848, 
By GREELEY Sc McELRATH, 
1 tbe Clerk's OflSce of the District Court of the United States, m and for the Sonthem 
District of New York. 






THE LIFE 



AND 



PUBLIC servicf:s 



OF 



HENRY C L A Y 



CHAPTER I. 

Birtli and Parentage— His early dnys— The Mill-boy of the 1 
Sli'lies— Studies Law— Hears Patrick Henry— Removes to 
Kentucky— Debut at a Debating Society— Becomes a suc- 
cessful Practitioner— Cases in which he dibtingulshes himselt— 
He advocates the policy of grad\ially Emancipating tlie ' 
Slaves in Kentucky — Opposes the Alien and Sedition Laws- 
Is elected to the General Assembly— Instances of his Elp- 
Quence— Affair with Col. Daviess— Appears at the Bar lor 
Aaron Burr- Subsequent Interview with Burr in New-York. 

Henry Clay is a native of Hanover county, Vir- 
ginia. He was born on tlie 12th of April, 1777, in a 
district of country familiarly known in the neighbor- 
hood as the Slashes. His fatlier, a Baptist clergy- 
man, died during the revolutionary war, bequeath- 
ing a small and much embarrassed estate and seven 
children, of whom Henry was the fifth, to the care 
of an affectionate mother. The surviving parent 
did not possess the means to give her sons a classi- 
cal education; and the subject of our memoir re- 
ceived no other instruction than such as could be 
obtained in the log-cabin school-houses, still com- 
mon in the lower parts of Virginia, at which spell- 
ing, reading, writing and arithmetic are taught. 

In 1792, his mother, who had become united, in a 
second marriage, with Mr. Henry Watkins,, removed 
to Woodford county, Kentucky, taking all her chil- 
dren, with the exception of Henry and his oldest 
brother. It was always a subject of regret with Mr. 
Clay, that he was deprived at so early an age of his 
mother's counsel, conversation and care. She was 
a woman of great strength of mind, and was tender- 
ly attached to her children. 

He had been only five years old when he lost his 
lather; and, consequently, his circumstances in 
early life, if not actually indigent, were such as to 
subject him frequently to hard manual labor. He 
lias ploughed in cornfields, many a summer day, 
svithout shoes, and with no other clothes on than a 
pair of Osnaburg trowsers and a coarse shirt. He 
has often gone to mill with grain to be ground into 
meal or flour; and there are those who remember 
his youthful visits to Mrs. Darricott's mill, on the 
Pamunkey river. On such occasions he generally 
rode a horse without a saddle, while a rope sup- 



plied the place of a bridle. But in the absence of a 
more splendid equipment, a bag containing three or 
four bushels of wheat or corn was generally thrown 
across the horse's back, mounted upon which the 
future statesman would go to mill, get the grain 
ground, and return with it home. 

At the age of fourteen, he was placed in a small 
retail store, kept by Mr. Richard Denny, near ihs 
market-house in the city of Richmond. He re- 
mained here till the next year, (1792,) when h«; wa3 
transferred to .the office of the Clerk of the High 
Court of Chancery, Mr. Peter Tinsley. There he 
becaiTie acquainted with the venerable Chancellor 
Wythe, attracted his friendly attention, and enjoyed 
the benefit of his instruction and conversation. The 
Chancellor being unable to write well, in conse- 
quence of the gout or rheumatism in his right 
thumb, bethought himself of employing his young 
friend as an amanuensis. This was a fortunate cir- 
cumstance for the fatherless boy. His attention 
was thus called to the structure of sentences, as he 
wrote them down from the dictation of his employ- 
er; and a taste for the study of grammar was crea- 
ted which was noticed and encouraged by the 
Chancellor, upon whose recommendation he read 
Harris's Hermes, Tooke's Diversions of Purley, 
Bishop Lowth's Grammar, and other similar works. 
For his handwriting, which is still remarkably 
neat and regular, Mr. Clay was chiefly indebted to 
Mr. Tinsley. Chancellor Wythe was devoted to 
the study of Greek. He was at one time occupied 
in preparing reports of nis decisions, and comment- 
ing upon those of the Court of Appeals, by which 
some of his were reversed; and in this work he was 
assisted by his amanuensis. After the reports were 
published, he sent copies to Mr. Jcflerson, John 
Adams, Samuel Adams, and others. In these copies 
he em])loyed Henry Clay to copy particular pas.sa- 
ges from Greek authors, to whom references had 
been made. Not nnderstanding a single Greek cha- 
racter, the young copyist had to transcribe by imi 
tation letter after letter. 



Life of Henry Clay. 



Leaving the olTine of Mr. Tinslcy the latter part 
of 1796, he went to reside with the lute Rohcrt 
Brooke, Esq., the Attorney General, formerly Gov- 
ernor of Virjiiiiia. His only regular study of the 
law was during the year 1797, that he lived with 
Mr. Brooke; but it was impossible that he should 
not, ill the daily scenes he witnesfed, and in the pre- 
sence of the eminent men whom he so often hoard 
and saw, be in the way of gathering much valuable 
legal information. During his residence of six or 
seven years in Riclimond, he became acquainted 
with all or most of the eminent Virginians of the pe- 
riod, wlio lived in that city, or were in the habit of 
resorting to it — with Edmund Pendleton, Spencer 
Roane, Chief Justice IMarshall, Bushrod Washing- 
ton, Wickhani, Call, Copeland, &c. On two occa- 
sions, he had the good fortune to hear Patrick Hen- 
ry — once, before the Circuit Court of the United 
States (or the Virginia District, on the question of 
the payment of the British debts; and again before 
the House of Delegates of Virginia, on a claim of 
the supernumerary officers in the service of the 
State during the Revolutionary War. Mr. Clay re- 
members that remarkable man, his appearance and 
his manner, distinctly. The impression of his elo- 
quent powers remaining on his mind is, that their 
charm consisted mainly in one of the finest voices 
ever heard, in his graceful gesticulation, and the va- 
riety and force of expression which he exhibited in 
his face. 

Henry Clay quitted Richmond in November, 1797, 
bis eldest brother having died while he yet resided 
in that city. Bearing a license from the Judges of 
the Virginia Court of Appeals to practise law, he 
established himself in Lexington, Kentucky. He 
was without patrons, without the countenance of in- 
fluential friends, and destitute of the means of pay- 
ing his weekly board. " 1 remember," says he, in 
his speech of June, 1842, at Lexington, " how com- 
fortable I thought I should be, if I could make £100 
Virginia money per year; and with what delight I 
received the first fifteen shilling fee. My hopes 
were more than realized. 1 immediately rushed into 
a lucrative practice." 

Before assuming the active responsibilities of his 
profession, he devoted himself with assiduity several 
months to his legal studies. Even at that period the 
bar of Lexington was eminent for its ability. Among 
its members were George Nicholas, James Hughes, 
John Breckenbridgc, James Brown, William Mur- 
ray, and others, whose rej)utation was sufficient to 
discourage the moi t stoat-hearted competition. But 
true genius is rarely unaccompanied by a conscious- 
ness of its power ; and the friendless and unknown 
youth from Virginia fearlessly entered the field, 
which, to a less intrepid spirit, would have seemed 
pre-occupied. He soon commanded consideration 
rind respect. He was familiar with the technicali- 
ties of practice ; and early habits of business and 
npplication, enabled him to efiect an easy mastery of 
the cases entrusted to his charge. His subtle ap- 
preciation of character, knowledge of human nature, 
and faculties of persuasion, rendered him peculiarly 
auccessful in his appeals to a jury ; and he obtained 
great celebrity fiir his adroit and careful nianage- 
Dicnt of criminal cases. 

All anecdote is related of him about the time of 
his first entrance upon his profeesion, which shows 



that, notwithstanding his fine capacities, he had eome 
naiive diffidence to overcome before they were fairly 
tested. He had joined a debating society, and at 
one of the meetings the vote was about to be taken 
upon the question under discussion, when he re- 
marked in a low but audible whispir, that the sub- 
jech did not appear to him to have been exhausted. 

'■ Do not put the question yet — ftlr. Clay will 
speak," ex.-,laimed a member, who had overheard 
the half hesitating remark. 

The chairman instantly took the hint, and nodded 
to the young lawyer in token of his readiness to hear 
what he had to say. With every indication of ex- 
treme embarrassment, he rose, and, in his confu- 
sion, began by saying : " Gentlemen of the Jury'" — 
unconsciously addressing his fellow-members as the 
tribunal, to which he had perhaps ofien made ima- 
ginary appeals in his dreams of a successful debflt 
at the bar. His audience did not add to his agita- 
tion by seeming to notice it, and, after floundering 
and blushing for a moment or two, and stammering 
out a repetition of the words ''Gentlemen of tho 
Jury," he suddenly shook ofT all signs of distrust 
and timidity, and launched into his subject with a 
promptitude and propriety of elocution, which ex- 
cited general surprise. 

To those familiar with the perfect self possession 
of Mr. Clay's manner in after life upon all occasions, 
the most trying and unexpected, this instance will 
present an amusing contrast ; for the evidence is 
not on record of his ever having failed for an instant 
in his resourcesof repartee or of argument in debate. 

Shortly after this early essay in public speaking, 
he was admitted as a practitioner before the Fayette 
Court of Quarter Sessions, a court of general juris- 
diction. Business soon poured in upon him, and 
during the first term he had a handsome practice. 
His manners and address, both in personal inter- 
course and before a jury, were unusually captivat- 
ing. Frank in avowing his sentiments, and bold 
and consistent in maintaining them, he laid the foun- 
dation of a character for sincerity and honor, which 
amid all the shocks of political changes and the 
scurrility of partizan warfare, has never been shaken 
or tainted. In the possession of tliese attributes, 
beyond the reach of cavil or of question, is to be 
found the secret of that inalienable attachment 
among the vast body of his friends, which has fol- 
lowed him throughout his career. 

One of the most important cases, in which Mr. 
Clay was engaged during the first three or four 
years of his professional life, was that in which ho 
was employed to defend a Mrs. Phelps, indicted for 
murder. This woman was the wife of a reepeclablti 
farmer, and until the time of the act for which she was 
arraigned, had led a blameless and correct life. One 
day, in her own house, taking some offence at a Mi.ss 
Phelps, her sister-in-law, she levelled a gun, and shot 
her through the heart. The poor girl had only time 
to exclaim, 'Sister, you have killed me,' and expired. 
Great interest was excited in the case, and the Court 
was crowded to overflowing on the «lay of trial. Of 
the fact of the homicide there could be no doubt. 
It was committed in the presence of witnesses, and 
the only question was to what class of crimes did 
theoffence l>clong. If it were pronounced murder 
in tho first degree, the life of the wretched prisoner 
would be tl'.c forfeit ; but, if manslaughter, shif 



Mr. Clay as an Advocate — Slavery. 



& 



would be punished merely by confinement in the 
gaol or penitentiary. The legal contest was long 
and able. The efforts o! the counsel for the prose- 
cution were strenuous and earnest; but Mr. Clay 
succeeded not only in saving the life of his client, 
but so moved the jury in her behalf by his elo(]uence, 
that her punisliinent was made as liglit as tlie law 
would allow. He gained much distinction by the 
ability he displayed in this case, and thenceforth it 
was considered a great object to enlist his assistance 
in all criminal suits on the part of the defendant. 
It is a singular fact, that in the course of a very 
extensive practice in the courts of criminal jurispru- 
dence, and in the defence of a large number of indi- 
viduals arraigned for capital offences, he never had 
one of his clients sentenced to death. 

Another case, in which he acquired scarcely less 
celebrity, was shortly afterward tried in Harrison 
County. Two Germans, father and son, had been 
indicted for murder. The deed of killing was proved 
to the entire satisfaction of the Court, and was con- 
sidered an aggravated murder. Mr. Clay's efforts 
were therefore directed to saving their lives. The 
trial occupied five days, and his closing appeal to 
the jury was of the most stirring and pathetic de- 
scription. It proved irresistible, for they returned a 
verdict of manslaughter. Not satisfied with this sig- 
nal triumph, he moved an arrest of judgment, and, 
after another day's contest, prevailed in this also. 
The consequence was, that the prisoners were dis- 
charged without even the punishment of the crime, 
of which the jury had found them guilty. 

An amusing incident occurred at the conclusion 
of this trial. An old, withered, ill-favored German 
woman, who was the wife of the elder prisoner, and 
the mother of the younger, on being informed of the 
success of the final motion for an arrest of judg- 
ment, and the consequent acquittal of her husband 
and son, ran toward the young advocate, in the ex- 
cess of her gratitude and joy, and throwing her arms 
about his neck, kissed him in the eyes of the crowd- 
ed court. Although taken wholly by surprise, and 
hardly flattered by blandishments from euch a 
source, young Clay acquitted himself upon the oc- 
casion, with a grace and good humor, which won 
: him new applause from the spectators. All great 
emotions claim respect; and in this instance so far 
did the sympaties of the audience go with the old 
woman as to divest of ridicule an act, which, in the 
recital, may seem to have partaken principally of 
the ludicrous. 

Notwithstanding his extraordinary success in all 
the criminal suits entrusted to him, the abilities dis- 
played by Mr. Clay at this period in civil cases 
were no less brilliant and triumphant. In suits 
growing out of the land laws of Virginia and Ken- 
tucky, he was especially distinguished; rapidly ac- 
quiring wealth and popularity by his practice. It 
is related of him, that on one occasion, in conjunc- 
tjon wiih another attorney, he was employed to ar- 
guq, in the Fayette Circuit Court, a question of 
great difficulty — one in which the interests of the 
litigant parties were deeply involved. At the open- 
ing of the court, something occurred to call him 
away, and the whole management of the case de- 
volved on his associate counsel. Two days were 
ppent in discussing the points of lav/, which were to 
govern the instructions of the Court to the jury, and 



on all of these points, Mr. Clay's colleague was 
foiled by his antagonist. At the end of the second 
day, Mr. Clay re-entered the Court. He had not 
heard a word of the testimony, and knew nothing of 
the course which the discussion had taken; but, af- 
ter holiiing a very short consultation with his col- 
league, he drew up a statement of the form in which 
he wished the instructions of the Court to be given 
to the jury, and accoinpanied his petition with a few 
observations, so entirely novel and satisfactory, that 
it was granted without the least hesitation. A cor- 
responding verdict was instantly returned; and thus 
the case, which had been on the point of being de- 
cided against Mr. Clay's client, resulted in his favor 
in less than half an hour after the young lawyer had 
entered the Court-house. 

For an enumeration of the various cases in which 
Mr. Clay was about this time engaged, and in which 
his success was as marked as his talents were obvi- 
ous, we must refer the curious reader to the records 
of the Courts of Kentucky, and hasten to exhibit the 
subject of our memoir on that more extended field, 
where his history began to be interwoven with the 
history of his country, and a whole nation hailed 
him as a champion worthy of the best days of the 
Republic. 

As early as 1797, when the people of Kentucky 
were about electing a Convention to form a new 
Constitution for that State, Mr. Clay may be said 
to have commenced his political career. His first 
efforts were made on behalf of human liberty, and 
at the risk of losing that breeze of popular favor, 
which was wafting on his bark bravely toward tliat 
haven of worldly prosperity and renown. 

The most important feature in the plan for a new 
Constitution, subinitted to the people of Kentucky, 
was a provision for the prospective eradication ot 
slavery from the State by means of a gradual eman- 
cipation of those lield in bondage. Against this 
proposal a tremendous outcry was at once raised. 
It was not to be questioned that the voice of the ma- 
jority was vehemently opposed to it. But young 
Clay did not hesitate as to his course. In that spirit 
of self-sacrifice, which he has since displayed on so 
many occasions, in great public emergencies, with- 
out stopping to reckon the disadvantages to himself, 
he boldly arrayed himself on the side of those 
friendly to emancipation. In the canvass, which 
preceded the election of members of the Convention, 
he exerted himself witli all the energy of his nature 
in behalf of that cause, which he believed to be the 
cause of truth and justice. With his voice and pen 
he actively labored to promote the choice of Dele- 
gates who were pledged to its support. He failed 
io the fulfilment of his philanthropic intentions, and 
incurred temporary unpopularity by his course. 
Time, however, is daily making more apparent the 
wisdom of his counsel. 

Mr. Clay has not faltered in his views upon this 
great question. They are now what they were in 
1797. In maintaining the policy of this scheme oi 
gradual emancipation he has ever been fearless and 
consistent. Let it not be imagined, however, that 
he has any sympathy with that incendiary spirit 
which would seem to actuate some of the clamorera 
for immediate and unconditional abolition at tlie 
present time. His views were far-sighted, otatea- 
man-like and sagacious. He looked to the general 



Life of Henry Clay. 



good, not merely of his contemporaries but of pos- 
terity; and his plan stretched beyond the embarrcss- 
ments of the present hour into the future. A more 
just, practicable and beneficent scheme than his, for 
the accotnplisliment of a consummation so devoutly 
to be wished by humanity at large, could not have 
been devised. 

It resembled that adopted in Pennsylvania in the 
year 1780 at the instance of Dr. Franklin, according 
to which, the p-cncration in bemg were to remain in 
bondage, but all their oflspring, born after a speci- 
fied day, were to be free at the age of twenty-eight, 
and, in the mean time, were to receive preparatory 
instruction to qualify them for the enjoyment of 
freedom. iVIr. Clay thought, with many others, that 
as the slave States had severally the right to judge, 
every one exclusively for itself, in respect to the in- 
stitution of domestic slavery, the proportion of 
slaves to the white population in Kentucky at that 
tifiie was so inconsiderable, that a system of gradu- 
al emancipation might have been adopted without 
any hazard to the securitj' and interests of the com- 
monwealth. 

Recently a charge was made by the principal op- 
position paper at the South, that Mr. Clay had join^ 
ed the Abolitionists; and the ground of the charge 
was the averment that he had written a letter to Mr. 
Giddings, of Ohio, approving the leading views of 
that party. Upon ii:quiry, it appeared, however, 
that the letter was written by Cassius M. Clay, a 
namesakp. In noticing the erroneous statement, 
Mr. Clay remarked, in a letter to a friend — "1 do 
not write letters for different latitudes. I have but 
one heart, and one mind; and all my letters are but 
copies of the original, and if genuine, will be found 
to conform to it, wherever they maj' be addressed." 

Would that every candidate for the Presidency 
might say this with equal sincerity and truth ! 

Notwithstanding the failure of his exertions in ar- 
resting the continuance of negro servitude in Ken- 
tucky, Mr. Clay has never shrunk from the avowal 
of his sentiments upon the subject, nor from their 
practical manifestation in his profes.-;ional and poli- 
tical career. For several years, whenever a slave 
brought an action at law for his liberty, Mr. Clay 
volunteered as his advocate : and he always suc- 
■ceeded in obtaining a decision in the slave's favor. 
Oppression in every shape would seem to have 
roused the most ardent sympathies of his soul, and 
to have enlisted his indignant eloquence in behalf of 
its unfriended object. The impulses, which urged 
•him at this early dav to take the part of the domes- 
tic bondsmen of his own Slate, were the same with 
tiiose, by which he was instigated, when the ques- 
tions of recognizing South American and Grecian In- 
dependence were presented to the consideration of 
a tiu'dy and calculating Congress. 

During the ailministration of John Adams, in 179C- 
f), the frtinous alien and sedition l;iws were passed. 
The popular opposition with which these extraordi- 
nary m-'asurcs were received, is still vividly reinem- 
bered in the United States. By the " alien law," 
the President was authorized to order any alii n, 
whom " he should judge dangerous to the peace and 
Hafe.ty" of the country " to depart out of the terri- 
tory within such time" as he should judge proper, 
•'pon penalty of being " impri-'oned for a term not 
exceeding three years." &c. 



The " sedition law" was designed to punish the 
abuse of Bj)eech of the press. It imposed a heavy 
pecimiiiry fine, and imprisonment for a term of years, 
upon such as should combine or conspire together 
to oppose any measure of Government : upon such 
as should write, print, utter, publish, &c., "any 
false, scandalous and malicious writing against the 
Governn)cnt of the United States or the Presi- 
dent," &c. 

Mr. Clay stood forth one of the earliest champions 
of popular rights in opposition to these memoriable 
laws. Kentucky was one of the first States that 
launched their thunders against them ; and though 
many speakers came forward to give expression to 
the indignation which was swelling in the public 
heart, none succeeded so well in striking the re- 
sponsive chord as our young lawyer. He was soon 
regarded as the leading spirit of the opposition party ; 
and it was about this time that the title of " The 
Great Commoner" was bestowed upon him. 

A gentleman, who was present at a meeting where 
these obnoxious laws were discussed, describes the 
effect produced by Mr. Clay's eloquence as difficult 
adequately to describe. The populace had assem- 
bled in the fields in the vicinity of Lexington, and 
were first addressed by Mr. George Nicholas, a dis- 
tinguished man, and a powerful speaker. The speech 
of Mr. Nicholas was long and eloquent, and he was 
greeted by the most enthusiastic cheers as he con- 
cluded. Clay being called for, promptly appeared, 
and made one of the most extraordinary and impres- 
sive harangues ever addressed to a popular assem 
bly. A striking evidence of its thrilling and effec- 
tive character may be found in the fact that when 
he ceased, Viere was no shout — no applause. So 
eloquently had he interpreted the deep feelings of 
the nmltitude, that they forgot the orator in the ab- 
sorbing emotions he had produced. A higher com- 
pliment can hardly be conceived. The theme was 
a glorious one for a young and generous mind, filled 
with ardor in behalf of human liberty — and he did it 
justice. The people took Clay and Nicholas upon 
their shoulders, and forcing t'lem into a carriage, 
drew them through the streets, amid shouts of ap- 
plause. What an incident for an orator, who had 
not yet completed his twenty second year! 

Four years afterwards, when Mr. Clay was absent 
from the County of Fayette at the Olympian Springs, 
he was brought forward, without his knowledge or 
previous consent, as a candidate, and elected to the 
General Assembly of Kentucky. He soon made 
his influence felt in that body. In 1804, Mr. Felix 
Grundy, then an adroit and well-known politician, 
made an attempt in the Legislature to procure the 
repeal of a law incorporating the Lexington Insu- 
rance Office. He was opposed at every step by Mr. 
Clay; and the war of words between the youthful 
debaters drew to the hall of the House throngs of 
spectators. Grundy had managed to secure before 
hand a majority in his favor in the House; but the 
members of the Senate flocked in to hear Clay spc;>k, 
and so cogently did he present to their understand- 
ings the impolicy and unconstitutionality of the 
measure under discussion, that they refused to sanc- 
tion it after it had been passed by the other branch, 
and a virtual triumph was thus obtained. 

It is recorded of Mr. Clay, that, in the course of 
the legislative session of 1805, he made an effort to 



Col, Ddviess-^Aaron Burr. 



procure the removal of the seat of Government from 
Frankfort; and his speech on the occasion is said to 
have been an inimitable specimen of argument and 
humor. Frankfort is peculiar in its appearance and 
situation, being sunk, like a huge pit, below the sur 
rounding country, and environed by rough and pre- 
cipitous ledges. " We have," said Mr. Clay, " the 
model of an inverted hat ; Frankfort is the body of 
the hat, and the lands adjacent are the brim. To 
change the figure, it is nature's great penitentiary ; 
and if the members of this House would know the 
bodily condition of the prisoners, let him look at 
those poor creatures in the gallery." 

As he said this, he pointed with his finger to half a 
dozen figures that chanced, at that moment, to be 
moving about in the gallery, more like animated 
ekeletons than respectable compounds of flesh and 
blood. The objects thus designated, seeing the at- 
tention of the whole assembly suddenly directed to- 
wards them, dodged, with ludicrous haste, behind 
■the railing, and tiie assembly was thrown into a con- 
vulsion of merriment. This argumentum adhovd 
nem proved irresistible. The members of the House 
agreed that it was expedient to remove the seat of 
Government, but it was subsequently found impos- 
sible to decide upon a new location, and the Legis- 
lature continues to hold its sessions at Frankfort. 

It was an early resolution of Mr. Clay, that no 
litigants, rich or poor, should have occasion to say 
that for the want of counsel they could not obtain 
justice at every bar where he could appear for them. 
Col. Joseph Hamilton Daviess, at that time United 
States District Attorney, and a man of influence and 
distinction, had committed an assault and battery 
at Frankfort on Mr. Bush, a respectable citizen, and 
a tavern-keeper at that place. The bar of Frank- 
fort declined instituting an action for the latter 
against Col. D. Bush finally appealed to Henry 
Clay, who promptly undertook the case, and 
brought the suit in Lexington. In the argument of 
a preliminary question, Mr. Clay felt it his duty to 
animadvert with some severity upon the conduct of 
Col. Daviess ; whereupon the latter, after the ad- 
journment of the Court, addressed a note to him, 
remonstrating against his course, and expressing a 
wish that it should not be persevered in. Mr. Clay 
immediately replied that he had undertaken the 
cause of Mr. Bush from a sense of duty ; that he 
should submit to no dictation as to his management 
of it, which should be according to his own judge- 
ment exclusively ; but that he should hold himself 
responsible for whatever he did or said, in or out of 
Court. A challenge ensued ; Mr. Clay accepted it, 
and proceeded to Frankfort for the hostile meeting. 
There, by the interposition of mutual friends, the 
affair was accommodated in a manner honorable to 
both parties. 

In the autumn of 1806, the celebrated Aaron Bun- 
was arrested in Kentucky, on a charge of being en- 
gaged in an illegal warlike enterprise. The saga- 
city and penetration of that extraordinary man were 
never more clearly evinced than in his application 
to Mr. Clay to defend him Mr. Clay believed, and 
it was generally believed in Kentucky, that the pro- 
secution was groundless, and was instituted by Col. 
Daviess, whom we have already mentioned, who 
was a great admirer of Col. Hamilton, and who dis- 
liked Burr because he had killed Hamiltoa in a 



duel, and was moreover, his opponent in politics. 
Mr. Clay felt a lively sympathy for Col. Burr, on 
account of his being arrested in a State distantfroin 
his own, on account of his misfortunes, and the A'\»- 
tinguished stations he had filled. Still he declined 
appearing for him, until Burr gave him written as- 
surances that he was engaged in no enterprise for- 
bidden by law, and none that was not known and 
approved by the Cabinet at Washington. On re- 
ceiving these assurances, Mr. Clay appeared for 
him ; and thinking that Burr ought not to be dealt 
witli as an ordinary culprit, he declined receiving 
from him any fee, although a liberal one was ten- 
dered. 

Burr was acquitted. Mr. Clay shortly after pro- 
ceeded to Washington, and received from Mr. Jef- 
ferson an account of tlie letter in cipher, which had 
been written by Burr to General Wilkinson, to- 
gether with other information of the criminal designs 
of Burr. Mr. Clay handed the written assurances 
above mentioned to Mr. Jefferson at the request oi 
the latter. 

On his return from Ghent, Mr. Clay made a brief 
sojourn in the city of New- York, and visited, among 
other places of interest, the Federal Court, then in 
session, escorted by his friend, the late Mr. Smith, 
then Marshall, formerly a Senator from New-York. 
On entering the court-room, in the City Hall, the 
eyes of the bench, bar, officers, and attendants upon 
the Court, were turned upon Mr. C. who was in- 
vited to take a seat on the bench, which he politely 
declined, and took a position in the bar. Shortly 
after, a small gentleman, apparently advanced in 
years, and with bushy, gray hair, whom Mr- Clay 
for an instant did not recognize, approached him. 
He quickly perceived it was Col. Burr, who ten- 
dered his hand to salute Mr. Clay. The latter de- 
clined receiving it. The Colonel, nevertheless, was 
not repulsed, but engaged in conversation with Mr. 
Clay, remarking, that he had understood that, be- 
sides the treaty of peace, the American Commis- 
sioners had ncgociated a good Commercial Conven- 
tion with Great Britain. Mr. Clay replied coldly, 
that such a convention was concluded, and that its 
terms would be known as soon as it was promul- 
gated by public authority. Col. B. expressed a 
wish to have an hour's interview with him, and Mr. 
C. told him where he stopped — but the Colonel 
never called. Thus terminated all the intercourse 
which ever took place between Henry Clay and 
Aaron Burr. And )'et even out of materials like 
these Detraction has tried to manufacture weapons 
for its assaults ! 

CHAPTER II. 

Elected to tlie Senate of the United States— His first .Speerli. in 
favor of Internal Improvement.s— Is chosen Speaker of the 
Kentucky House of Assembly— Speeches and Keport<— Reso- 
lutions in favor of American Manufactures— Duel with Ilnm- 
plirey Marshall— His sentiments in rpjrard to Dueling— Takes 
his seat a second time in the United Slates Senate — Speaks iii 
behalf <if Domestic Jlanufactures- Lays the iijundatioii of 
the American System— Speech on the line of tlie Perdidtj — 
Labors of the Session— Third Session of the Eleventh Con- 
gress—The United States Pan!;- He becomes a member of tiie 
United States House of Representatives— Is chosen Speaker 
on the first ballot— (.'lili al state of Public Affairs— Is in favor 
of a War with Oreiit Britain— Si)eech on the bill for raising 
Troops— On a Naval Establishment— Carries iaa Measure.'*— 
Our Naval successes. 

0\ the twenty-ninth of December, 1806, Mr. Clay 
produced his credentials, and took his seat in the 
Senate of the United States. He had been elected 



Life of Henry Clay. 



by the Legislature of the State of Kentucky to fill 
a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of the Hon. 
John Adair; and, from the journals of ConcrcES, he 
seems to have entered at once, actively upon the 
discharge of the duties of his new and exalted 
position. His first Speech was in favor of the 
erection of a bridge over the Potomac River; and 
• at this period wc perceive the dawning of those 
views of ' Internal Improvement,' which he after- 
ward carried out so ably, and his advocacy of which 
should alone be sufiicient to entitle him to the last- 
ing gratitude of the Country. He amused the 
Senate on this occasion by quoting a passage from 
Peter Pindar, as applicable to a Senator by whom 
lie had been assailed, and who was remarkable for 
the expression of superior sagacity which his coun- 
tenance was wont to assume when he rebuked the 
younger members of tlie body. The picture was 
apt and graphic : 

" Thus have I seen a miijrpie in the street, 
A r.hnttering bird, we often meet ; 
A bird for curiosity well known. 

With bend awry, and cunning eye. 
Peep knowiiigly into a marrow-bone." 

This Speech was soon followed by his presenta- 
tion of a Resolution advocating the expediency of 
appropriating a quantity of land toward the opening 
of the Canal proposed to be cut at the Rapids of 
the Ohio, on the Kentucky shore. 

The subject of appropriations for Internal Im- 
provements was at that time a novelty. So far as 
it related to the establishment of Post-Roads, it had, 
it is true, been discussed in February, 1795; but no 
formal opinion of Congress was expressed, so as to 
be a precedent for future action. 

A Committee, consisting of Messrs. Clay, Giles 
and Baldwin, was now appointed to consider the 
new Resolution, and on the twenty-fourth of Feb- 
ruary, 1807, Rlr. Clay made an able Report to the 
Senate, in which we find the following passage : — 
" How far it is the policy of the Government to aid 
•in works of this kind, when it has no distinct in- 
' terest; whether, indeed, in such a case, it has the 
' Constitutional power of patronage and encourage- 
' ment, it is not necessary to be decided in the present 
* instance." A few days afterward, he reported a 
bill providing for the appointment of Commissioners 
to ascertain the practicability of removing the ob- 
structions in the navigation of the Ohio at the Rapids. 
This bill passed the Senate by a vote of eighteen to 
eight. 

The following resolution, presented the day of the 
passage of the bill, shows that Mr. Clay thus early 
in his career was deeply impressed with the impor- 
tance of a system of Internal Improvement. He 
may truly be called the father of that system, which 
has so incalculably advanced the general prosperity 
of the Republic : — 

" Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury 
be directed tn prejiare and report to the Senate at 
tlieir next session, a plan for tiie application of such 
means as are witliin the power of Congress, to the 
purposes of opening Roads and making Canals ; to- 
gether with a statement of undertakings of that na- 
ture, which, as objects of public improvement, may 
require and deserve the aid of Government; and, 
also, a statement of works, of the nature mentioned, 
which have been commenced, the jirogrcfs which 
has been mode in them, and the uieaiia and jirospect 
wf their being completed; and all such iui'ornialion 



as, in the opinion of the Secretary, shall be material 
in relation to the objects of this resolution." 

The resolution was passed with but three disEent- 
ing voices. 

During this session an attempt was made to sus- 
pend the Habeas Corpus Act, for the purpose ot 
enabling the President to arrest, without going 
through the forms and delays of the law. Col. Burr, 
of whose evil intentions there was now suflTicient 
proof. Mr. Clay did not speak on the motion, but 
his vote was recorded against it, not through any 
tenderness towards Burr, but because of the danger 
01 instituting such a precedent against the liberty ol 
the citizen. The motion was, however, carried in 
the Senate, but defeated in the House of Represent- 
atives. 

Mr. Clay's election to the Senate of the United 
States had been but for the fraction of a terra, 
amounting to a single session. In the summer oJ 
1807, he was again chosen by the citizens of Fay- 
ette to represent them in the Kentucky Legislature, 
and at the next session he was elected Speaker ot 
the Assembly. In this position he did not content 
himself with faithfully discharging the ordinary du- 
ties of a Speaker. He entered the arena of debate, 
and took an active part in most of the important 
discussions before the House. A motion having 
been made to prohibit the reading in the Courts of 
Kentucky of any British decision, or elementary 
work on Law, he opposed it with a vigor and elo- 
queuce that could not fail of effect. More than four- 
fifths of the Members of the House had evinced a 
determination to vote for the motion. It was argued 
that the Americans, as an independent people, ought 
not to suiiler themselves to be goveiT.ed, in the ad» 
ministration ot justice, by the legal decisions of a 
foreign power. Mr. Clay had to contend against a 
most formidable array, of popular prejudice. To 
obviate one of the most potent arguments of the 
friends of the motion, he ingeniou.sly moved to 
amend it by limiting the exclusion of British deci- 
sions from Kentucky to those only which have taken 
place since the 4th of July, 1776, the date of Ameii- 
can Independence, and suf3lering all which preceded 
that period to remain in force. He maintained that 
before the declaration of our independence, the Brit- 
ish and Americans were the same nation, and the 
laws of the one people were those of the other. He 
then entered upon one of the most eloquent ha- 
rangues that ever fell from his lips. He exposed 
the barbarity of a measure which would annihilate, 
for all practical uses in the State, the great body of 
the Common Law ; which would " wantonly make 
wreck of a system fraught with the intellectual 
wealth of centuries, and whelm its last fragment 
beneath the wave." 

Those who had the good fortune to hear Mr. Clay 
on this occasion, describe his speech as one of trans 
cendent power, beauty and pathos. A gentleman, 
who was a partaker in the effect produced by his 
eloquence, says : — " Every muscle of the orator's 
' face was in motion ; his whole body seemed agi- 
' tatcd, as if every part were instinct with a .separate 
' life ; and his small, white hand, with its blue veins 

• apparently distended almost to bursting, moved 
' gracefully, but with all the energy of rapid and ve- 
' hement gesture. The appearance of the speaker 

• seemed thai of a pure intellect wrought up to its 



The Embargo — Duel with Humphrey Marshall. 



•mightiest energies', nncj brightly glowing through 
' tho thin and transparent veil of flesh that enrobed 
' it." 

It is almost needless to add that Ulr. Clay pre- 
vailed on this occasion in turning the tide in his fa- 
vor, and the original motion was rejected. 

A re[iort drawn up by him in 1809 upon a question 
of disputed election is wortliy of notice in this place. 
The citizens of Hardin Couiity, who were entitled 
to two Representatives in the General Assembly, 
had given 43G votes for Charles Helm, 350 for Sam- 
uel Haycrafr, and 271 for John Thomas. The fact 
being ascertained that Mr. Haycraft held an office 
of profit under the Commonwealth, at the time of 
the election, a constitutional disqualification attach- 
ed and excluded him. He was ineligible, and there- 
fore could not be entitled to his seat. It remained to 
inquire into the pretensions of Mr. Tiiomas. His 
claim could only be supported by a total rejection 
of the votes given by Mr. Haycraft, as void to all 
intents whatever. Mr. Clay contended that those 
votes, thocgh void and ineftectual in creating any 
right in Mr. Haycraft to a seat in the House, could 
not affect, in any manner, the situation of his com- 
petitor. Any other exposition would be subversive 
of the gredt principle of Free Government, that the 
majority shall prevail. It would operate as a fraud 
upon the People ; for it could not be doubted that 
the votes given to Mr. Haycraft were bestowed under 
a full persuasion that he had a right to receive them. 
It would, in fact, be a declaration that disqualifica- 
tion produced qualification — that the incapacity of 
one man capacitated another to hold a seat in that 
House. The Committee, therefore, unanimously 
decided that neither of the gentlemen was entitled 
to a seat. 

Such were the principles of Mr. Clay's Report. 
It was unanimously adopted by the House ; and its 
doctrines have ever since governed the Kentucky 
Elections. 

In December, 1808, Mr. Clay introduced before 
the Legislature of Kentucky a series of Resolutions 
approving the Embargo, denouncing the British 
Orders in Council, pledging the cooperation of Ken- 
tucky to any measures of opposition to British ex- 
actions, upon which the General Government might 
determine, and declaring that "Thomas Jefferson 
' is entitled to the thanks of Ms Country for the 
* ahility, uprightness and intelligence which he has 
' displayed in the management both of our Foreign 
' Relations and Domestic Concerns." 

Mr. Humphrey Marshall opposed these Resolu- 
tions with extraordinary vehemence, and introduced 
Amendatory Resolutions of a directly opposite ten- 
dency; but Mr. Marshall was the only one who 
voted in favor of the latter. Mr. Clay's original 
Resolutions were adopted by a vote of sixty -four 
to one. 

Soon after this event, Mr. Clay introduced a Reso- 
lution recommending that every Member, for the pur- 
pose of encouraging the Industry of the Country, 
should clothe himself in garments of Domestic 
Manufacture. This Resolution was at once most 
emphatically denouncfd by Mr. Humphrey Mar- 
shall, who stigmatized it as the project of a dema- 
gogue, and applied a profusion of harsh and un- 
generous epithets to the mover. Mr. Clay retorted, 
and the quarrel went on until it terminated in a hos- 



tile encounter. The parties met, and by the first 
shot Mr. Marshall was slightly wounded. They 
stood up a second time, and Mr. Clay received a 
hardly perceptible flesh wound in the leg. The 
seconds now interfered, and prevented a continuance 
of the combat. 

Mr. Clay was once again called upon in the course 
of his political career, by the barbarous exactions of 
society, to consent to a hostile encounter; but we 
arc confident that no man at heart abominates tho 
custom more sincerely than he. The following pas- 
sage in relation to this subject occurs in an address, 
which, in his maturer years, he made to his constit- 
uents : " I owe it to the community to say, that what- 
ever heretofore I may have done, or by inevitable cir- 
cumstances might be forced to do, no man in it holds 
in deeper abhorrence than I do that pernicious prac- 
tice. Condemned as it must be by the judgment 
and philosophy, to say nothing of the religion, of ev- 
ry thinking man, it is an aflair of feelmg about which 
wc cannot, although we shoidd, reSon. Its true 
corrective will be found when all shall unite, as all 
ought to unite, in its unqualified proscription." 

When the bill to suppress duelling in the District 
of Columbia came before the Senate of the United 
States in the spring of 1338, Mr. Clay said, no man 
would be happier than he to see the whole barbar- 
ous system forever eradicated. It was well known, 
that in certain quarters of the country, public opin- 
ion was averse from duelling, and no man could fly 
in the face of that public opinion, without having his 
reputation sacrificed ; but there were other portions 
again which exacted obedience to the fatal custom. 
The man with a high sense of honor, and nice sen- 
sibility, when the question is whether he shall fight 
or have the finger of sconi pointed at him, is unable 
to resist, and few, very few, are found willing to 
adopt such an alternative. , When public opinion 
shall be renovated, and chastened by reason, religion 
and humanity, the practice of duelling will at once 
be discountenanced. It is the office of legislation to 
do all it can to bring about that healthful state of the 
public mind, and although it may not altogether ef- 
fect so desirable a result yet he had no doubt it 
would do much towards it, and with these views, he 
would give his vote for the bill. 

In the winter session of Congress in 1809-10, Mr. 
Clay took his seat a second time in the Senate of the 
United States. He had been elected by the legisla- . 
turo by a handsome majority to supply a vacancy 
occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Buckner Thrus- 
ton, whose term wanted two years of its completion. 
From this period the public history of Mr. Clay may 
be found diffused through the annals of the IJnion. 
The archives of the republic are the sources from, 
which the materials for his biography may be hence-, 
forth derived. When time shall have remov<;d the- 
inducements for interested praise or censure, posfeY* 
ity will point to the records of his civic achievements, 
glorious though bloodless, no less as furnishing a 
well established title to their admiration and grati- 
tude than as a perpetual monument of his fume. 

The predilections which Mr. Clay had early man- 
ifested in behalf of American manufactures and Amer- 
ican principles, were unequivocally avowed in his 
first speech before the Senate on being elected a se 
cond time to that body as far back as April, 1810. A 
bill was under discussion appropriating a sum o 



10 



Life of Henry Clay, 



inoaey for procuring munitions of war, and for other 
purposes; and an amendment had been proposed, 
instructing the Secretary of the Navy, to provide 
supplies of cordage, sail-cloth, hemp, ifcc, and to give 
a preference to those of American growth and n>an- 
ufacture. IMr. Lloyd of Massachusetts moved to 
strike out this part of the amendment; and a discus- 
sion arose concerning the general policy of promo 
ting domestic manufactures, in which Mr. Clay bold- 
ly declared himself its advocate. 

The fallacious course of reasoning urged by many 
against domestic manufactures, namely, the distress 
and servitude produced by those of England, he said 
would equally indicate the proprietj' of abandoning 
agriculture itself. Were we to cast our eyes upon 
the miserable peasantry of Poland, and revert to the 
days of feudal vassalage, we might thence draw nu- 
merous arguments against the pursuits of the hus- 
bandman. In short, take the black side of the pic- 
ture, and every human occupation will be found 
pregnant with fatal objections. 

The sentiments avowed thus early in our legisla- 
tive history by Mr. Clay are now current through- 

' out our vast community; and the "American Sys- 
tem," as it has been called, is generally admitted to 
be not only a patriotic, but a politic system. But 
let it not be forgotten, that it is to the persevering 
and unremitted exertions of Henry Clay, tliat we 
are indebted for the planting and the cherishing of 
that goodly tree, under the l'ar-sj)reading branches of 
-vvhich so many find protection and plenty at the pre- 
sent da)'. 

The amendments advocated by Mr. Clay on tliis 
-occasion were adopted, and the bill was passed. 
The first step toward the establishment of his mag- 

■ nificent " system " was taken. 

• Another speech in which he distinguished himself 

vidaring the session, is that upon the question of the 
right of the United States to tlie territory lying be- 
tween the rivers Mississippi, and Perdido, compri- 
sing tlie greater part of Western Florida. This im- 
portant region, out of which the States of Alabama 
and Mississippi have since been formed, was claimed 
by Spain as a part of her Florida domain. The Pres- 

• dent, Mr. Madison, had issued a proclamation de- 
claring the region annexed to the Orleans Territory, 
and subject to the laws of the United States. Tlie 

' Federalists maintained that we had no claim to 
the Territory — that it belonged to Spain — and that 
Oreat B.'itain as her ally, would not consent to see 
iier robbed. 

Mr. Clay stepped forth as tlie champion of tlie de- 
mocracy and the President, and eloquently vindica- 
ted the title of the United States to the land. His 
crguments evince much research, ingenuity and lo- 
•gical skill ; and on this as on all occasions, he man- 
■ifcsted that irrepressible sympathy with the people 
— the mass — his eloquent expressions of which had 
gained him in Kentucky the ajipellation of the 
<3reat Commonf.k. ]\Ir. Horsey, one of the Sena- 
tors from Delaware, had bemoaned the fate of the 
Spanish king. Mr. Clay said in reply : " I shall 

• leave the honorable gentleman from Delaware to 
' mourn over the fortunes of the fallen Charles. I 
r have no commiseration for princes. My sympa- 

'THIES AKK RESERVEn FOR THE GREAT MASSof 

* mankind ; and I own that the people of Spain have 
them most f»incerclv." 



With regard to the deprecated wrath of Great 
Britain, Mr. Clay said, with a burst of indignant el- 
oquence, which is but inadequately conveyed in tlie 
reported speech : " Sir, is the time never to arrive, 
' when we may manage our own affairs, without the 
' fear of insulting his Britannic majesty ? Is the rod 
' of British power to be forever suspended over our 
' heads ? Does Congress put on an embargo to shel- 
' ter our rightful commerce against the piratical de- 
' predations committed upon it on the ocean 1 We 
' are immediately warned of the indignation of Eng- 
'land. Is a law of non-intercouse proposed ? The 
' whole navy of the haughty Mistress of the Seas is 
' made to thunder in our ears. Does the President 
' refuse to continue a correspondence with a Minis- 
' ter, who violates the decorum belonging to his di- 
' plomatic character, by giving and deliberately re- 
' peating an affront to the whole nation ? We are 
' instantly menaced with the chastisement which 
' English pride will not fail to inflict. Whether we 
' assert our rights by sea, or attempt their mainten- 
' ance by land — whithersoever we turn ourselves, 
' this phantom incessantly pursues us ! " 

The strong American feeling, the genuine demo- 
cratic dignity, which pervade this Speech are char- 
acteristic of the man and of the principles, which, 
throughout a long and trying public career, he has 
steadfastly maintained. And yet we find new-fledged 
politicians and dainty demagogues of modern fash- 
ionable manufacture, charging this early and con- 
sistent leader of the Democracy — this friend and 
supporter of Jefferson and of Madison — this main 
pillar of the Party, who originated and conducted 
to a glorious termination the last War— charging 
him with Federalism and Aristocracy ! Every act 
of his life — every recorded word that ever fell from 
his lips gives the lie to the imputation. 

Mr. Clay's labors during this Session appear to 
have been arduous and diversified — showing on his 
part unusual versatility, industry and powers of ap- 
plication. He was placed on several important Com- 
mittees, and seems to have taken part in all discus- 
sions of moment. On the 26th of March, 1810, frona 
the Committee to whom was recommitted a bill grant- 
ing a right of preemption to purchasers of Public 
Lands in certain cases, he reported it with amend- 
ments, which were read ; and, after undergoing somo 
alterations, it was again recommitted, reported, and 
finally passed by the Senate. Mr. Clay was the 
early friend of the poor settler on the Public Lands, 
and he has always advocated a policy which, whils 
it is extremely liberal toward that class, is consist- 
ent with perfect justice to the People at large, w1m> 
are the legitimate owners of the Public Domain. 

On the 29th of March Mr. Clay brought in a bill 
s jpplementary to an act entitled " An Act to Regu- 
' late Trade and Intercourse with the Indian Tribes, 
' and to preserve Peace on the Frontier." The bill 
was referred to a Committee, of which he was ap- 
pointed Chairman ; and to his intelligent labors in 
their behalf, the People ol' the West were indebted 
for measures of protection of the most efficient 
character. 

The 20tli of April succeeding, on motion of Mr. 
Clay, the bill to enable the People of the Orleans 
Territory, now Louisiana, to foim a Constitutioa 
and Government was amended by n jiiovision re- 
quiring that the Laws, Records and Legislative Pro- 



United States Bank— British Aggression. 



11 



ceedings of the State should be in the English lan- 
guage. On the '27th of the same month he had 
leave of absence (or the rest of the Session, after 
accomplishing an amount of public business that 
few men could have despatcliod with so nmch 
promptitude, ability and advantage to the Country. 

The Third Session of the Eleventh Congress com- 
menced on tlie 3d of December, 1810. Mr. Clay was 
once more in his seat in the Senate. 

The subject of renewing the Ciiarter of the United 
States Bank was now the great topic before Con- 
gress. Mr. Clay had been histructod by the Legis- 
lature of Kentucky to oppose a recharter; and iiis 
own convictions at the lime accorded with theirs. 
He addressed the Senate at some length in oppo- 
sition to the proposed measure. He lived to rectify 
his opinions on this important question; and his 
reasons for the change must be satisfactory to every 
candid mind. They are given in an Address to his 
constituents in Lexington, dated the 3d of June, 1816. 

In a Speech to the same constituents, delivered 
the 9th of June, 1842, he alludes to the subject in 
these terms : 

" I never but once changed my opinion on any 
great measure of national policy, or any great prin- 
ciple of construction of the National Constitution. 
In early life, on deliberate consideration, I adopted 
the principles of interpreting the Federal Constiu- 
tion, which had been so ably developed and enforced 
by Mr. Madison in his memorable Report to the Vir- 
ginia Legislature; and to them, as I understood 
them, I have constantly adhered. Upon the ques- 
tion coming up in the Senate of the United States, 
to recharter the first Bank of the United States thirty 
years ago, I opposed the recharter upon convictions 
which I honestly entertained. The experience of 
the War which shortly followed, the condition into 
which the Currency of the Country was thrown, 
without a Bank, and, I may now add, later and more 
disastrous experience, convinced me I was wrong. 1 
publicly stated to ray constituents, in a Speech at 
Lexington, (that which I had made in the House of 
Representatives not having been reported) my rea- 
sons for that change ; and they are preserved in the 
archives of the Country. I appeal to that record ; 
and I am willing to be judged now and hereafter by 
their validity. 

"I do not advert to the fact of this solitary in- 
stance of change of opinion, as implying any per- 
sonal merit, but because it is a fact. I will, how- 
ever, say that I think it very perilous to the utility 
of any public man to make frequent changes of 
opinion, or any change, but upon grounds so suf- 
ficient and palpable that the public can clearly see 
and approve them.'' 

Many important subjects were discussed by the 
Senate during the Session of 1 810-11 ; and Mr. Clay 
was in all of them conspicuous. His zeal and 
efficiency in the Public Service began to attract the 
eyes of the whole Country. He was not the Repre- 
sentative of Kentucky alone. His capacious heart 
and active mind, uncontracted by sectional jealous- 
ies or local bigotry, comprehended the entire Union 
in their embrace. 

At the expiration of his second fractional term of 
service in the Senate of the United States, having 
Tetumed to Kentucky, he was elected a member of 
the Federal House of Representatives. Congress 
convened on the day designated by Proclamation, 
the fourth day of November, 1811; and, on the first 
ballot for Speaker, 128 members being present, he 
was chosen by a majority of 31, over all opposition. 



The aflfaira of the Nation were never in a more 
critical position than at this juncture. The honor 
of the Ri'jiublic was nt stake. A long series of out- 
rages perpetrated against our Commerce by England 
and by Fiance had rcaclfed a hight, at which fartlier 
toleration would have been pusillanimous. Under 
the B'-rlin and Milan Decrees of Napoleon, our ships 
were seized and our property confiscated by the 
French in a manner to provoke the warmest indig- 
nation of a free People. Great Britain vied with 
France, and finally far surpassed her in her acts of 
violence and rapine toward us. Each of the bel- 
ligerent nations sought a jiretext in the conduct ot 
the other for her own injustice. 

At length France, in answer to our remonstrances, 
repealed her odious Decrees so far as we were con- 
cerned, and practically abandoned her system of 
seizure and oppression. Great Britain did not fol- 
low her example. 

A yenr had elapsed since the French Decrees 
were rescinded ; but Great Britain persisted in her 
course, — affecting to deny their extinction. The 
ships of the United States, laden with the producv-^ 
of our soil and labor, navigated by our own citizeiS 
and peaceably pursuing a lawful trade, were seized 
on our coasts, and, at the very mouth of our own 
harbors, condemned and confiscated. But it was 
the ruffianly system of impressment — by which 
American freemen, pursuing a lawful life of hard- 
ship and daring on the ocean, were liable to be 
seized, in violation of tlie rights of our flag, forced 
into the naval service of a foreign Power, and made, 
perhaps, the instruments of similar oppression to- 
ward their own countrymen; — it was this despotic 
and barbarous system that principally roused the 
warlike spirit of Congress and the Nation. And 
Posterity will admit that this cause of itself was an 
all-sufficient justification for hostile measures. The 
spirit of that People must have been debased in- 
deed, which could have tamely submitted to such 
aggressions. 

The feelings of Mr. Clay on this subject seem to 
have been of the intensest description. Though 
coming from a State distant from the sea-board, 
the wrongs and indignities practiced against our 
mariners by British arrogance and oppression, fired 
his soul and stirred his whole nature to resistance. 
To him, the idea of succumbing a moment to such 
degrading outrages was intolerable. The Nation 
had been injured and insulted. England persisted 
in her injuries and insults. It was useless to tem- 
porise longer. He was for war, prompt, open and 
determined war. He communicated to others the 
electric feelings that animated his own breast. He 
wreaked all his energies on this great cause. 

In appointing the Committee on Foreign Rela- 
tions, to whom the important question was to ba 
referred, he was careful to select a majority of such 
Members as partook of his own decided views. 
Peter B. Porter, of New York, was the Chairman; 
and, on the 29th of November, he made a Report, in 
which the Coinmittee earnestly recommended, ia 
the words of the President, " that the United States 
' be immediately put into an armor and attitude de 
' manded by the crisis, and corresponding with the 
'national spirit and expectations." They submit- 
ted appropriate Resolutions for the carrying out a 
this great object. 



12 



Life, of Henry Clay.. 



Oa the Slat of December, the House resolved 
itself into a Committee of tlie Whole, Mr. Brecken- 
ridge in the Chair, on a bill from the Senate, pro- 
viding for the raising of twenty-five thousand troops. 
Of lliis measure, Mr. Clay was the warmest, and at 
the same time most judicious, advocate. He ad- 
dressed the House eloquently in its behalf, and 
urged it forward on all occasions with his best 
energies. 

He contended that the real cause of British 
aggression was not to distress France, as many 
maintained, but to destroy a rival. " She saw," 
continued he, " in your numberless ships, which 
' whitened every sea — in your hundred and twenty 
' thousand gallant tars — the seeds of a naval force, 
'which in thirty years would rival her on her own | 
' element. She therefore commenced the odious \ 
^system of Impressment, of ichich no lans^uagc \ 
' can paint my execration ! She dared to attempt ] 
* the subversion of ike peisonal freedom of your I 
' rnariners ! " I 

' In concluding, Mr. Clay said he trusted that he | 
had fully established thei^e ihrei:; poi-itions : — That > 
the quantum of the force proposed by the bill was j 
not too great; that its nature was such as the con- 1 
templated War called for ; and that the object of , 
the War was justified by every consideration of 
justice, of interest, of honor and love of country. ! 
Unless that object were at once attained by peace- I 
'ul means, he hoped that war weuld be waged be- I 
fore the close of the Session. I 

The bill passed the House on the 4th of January ■ 
succeeding ; and, on the 22d of the same month, the \ 
Report of the Committee, to whom that part of the : 
President's Message relating to a Naval Establibh- j 
ment was referred, being under discussion, Mr. Clay 
epoke in favor of an increase of tlie Navy, advo- 
cating the buildii;g of ten frigates. 

In his remarks, on this occasion, he contended 
that a description of naval force entirfly within our 
means was that, which would be sufficient to pre- 
vent any single vessel, of whatever metal, from en- 
dangering our whole coasting trade — blocking up 
our harbors, and laying under contributions our 
cities — a force competent to punish the insolence of 
the commander of any single ship, and to preserve 
in our own jurisdiction the inviolability of our peace 
and our laws. 

" Is there," he asked, " a reflecting man in the 
' nation who would not charge Congress with a 
' culpable neglect of its duty, if, for the want of 
' such a force, a single ship were to bombard one of 
' our cities f Would not every honorable member 
' of the Committee inflict on himself the bitterest re- 
' proaches, if, by failing to make an inconsiderable 
' addition to our little gallant Navy, a single Briti.-h 
' vessel should place New- York under contribution !" 

On the 29th of January, 1812, the bill to increase 
the Navy passed the House by a handsome majority- 
To Mr. Clay's eloquent advocacy of the measure, 
the Country is largely indebted for the glorious 
naval successes which afterward shfd a now and 
undying lustre upon our history. But for the gal- 
lant and effective Navy, which pprang up under 
such auspices, the main arm of our deience would 
have been crippled. While we contemplate with 
pride our achievements ui)on ihe sea — the memo- 
rable deeds of our Lawrences, Decatura, Hulls, 



Bainbridg^s unri Perrye — let us not forget the States 
man, bui ibr whose provident sagacity and intrepid 
spirit, the opportunity of performing tiiose exploits 
might never have been afforded. 



CHAPTER HI. 

Mr. Clay prefers a seat in tlie House to one in the Senate— Rea 
sons for making liim Speaker — The President recnmmends an 
Embargo — The measure opposed by Jolin Randolph and Jo- 
siah Quincy— Defended Ijy Mr. Clay— His intercourse with 
Randolph— War detlared— The Leaders in the House— Mr. 
Cheves and Mr. Gallatin— ,Mr. Clay appointed to confer with 
President Madison— Anecdotes— Events of the War— 51o- 
tives— Federal Abuse— Clay's Reply to Quincy— Effects ol 
his Eloquence — Passage ot the Army Bill— Madison re-elected 
President— Mr. Clay resigns the Speaker's Chair, being ap- 
pointed Commissioner to Ghent— His services during the War. 

The cause of Mr. Clay's transference from the 
Senate to the House of Representatives was his 
own preference, at the time, of a seat in the popular 
branch. His immediate appointment as Speaker 
was, under the circumstances, a rare honor, and 
one never, before or since, conferred on a new Mem- 
ber. Among the qualifications which led to his 
selection for that high station was his known firm- 
ness, which would check any attempt to domineer 
over the House ; and many Members had a special 
view to a proper restraint upon Mr. John Randolph 
of Virginia, who, through the fears of Mr. Varnuni, 
and the partiality entertained for him by Mr. Macon, 
the two preceding Speakers, had exercised a con- 
trol which, it was believed, was injurious to the 
deliberations of the body. 

On the first of April, 1812, the following confiden- 
tial communication from the President to Congress 
was received : 

" Considering it as expedient, under existing cir- 
cumstances and prospects, that a general embargo 
be laid on all vessels now in port or hereafter arri- 
ving, for the period of sixty days, I recommend the 
immediate passage of a law to that pffeci. 

" JAMES MADISON." 

This proposition was immediately discussed its 
the House in secret session, Mr. Clay took an active 
part in the debate. He gave to the measure recom- 
mended by the President his ardent and unqualified 
support. " I APPROVE OF IT," said he, " because 

IT IS TO BE VIEWED AS A DIRECT PRECURSOR TO 
j WAR." 

Among the most vehement opponents of the mea- 
sure were John Randolph, of Virginia, and Josiah 
Quincy, of Massachusetts., Mr. Randolph said that 
the honorable Speaker was mistaken when he said 
the message was for war. Mr. R. had " too much 
' reliance on the wisdom and virtue of the President 
' to believe that he would be guilty of such gross 
' and unparalleled treason." He maintained that 
the proposed embargo was not to be regarded as an 
inital step to war — but as a subterfuge— a retreat 
from battle. " What new cause of war," he asked, 
" or of an embargo has arisen within the last twelve 
' months 1 The afiair of the Chesapeake is settled : 
' no new priaciplcs of blockade have been inteipola- 
' ted in the laws of nations. Every man of candor 
' would ask why did not, then, go to war twelve 
' months ago." 

" What neic cause of war has been avowed !" said 
Mr. Clay in reply — " Tiie afi'.iir of the Chesapeake 
is settled, to be sure, but only to ])ari;lyze the spirit 
of the country. Has Gn-at Britain alistained from 
impressing our Beameu— from depredating upoHou? 



Declaralion of War vnlh Great Britain. 



13 



property ? We have complete proof, in Imr captiirc 
of our ships, in her exciting;; our frontier Indians to 
liostilily, and in iier sending an einissury to our 
cities to excite civil war. ihnt she will do everything 
to destroy us : our resolution and spirit are ouronly 
dependence. Although I feel waiuily upon this 
siiiijcet,'' continued he, " I pride myself upon those 
fceiints, and should despise myself if 1 were desti- 
tute of them." 

Mr. (iuincy expressed in strong terms his abhor- 
rence of the proposed measure. He said that his ob- 
jections were, tliat it was not what it pretended to 
be ; arid was what it pretended not to be. That it 
was not enibargo ])re))anUory to war; but that it was 
embargo as a substitute for the question of declaring 
war. "1 object to it," said he, "because it is no 
'efficient preparation ; because it is, not a progress 
' towards honorable war, but a subterfuge from the 
' question. Jf we must perish, let us perish by any 
' hand except our own. Any fate is better than self- 
' slaughter." 

Against this storm of opposition Henry Clay pre- 
sented an undaunted front. As the debate was car- 
ried on with closed doors, no ample record of it is in 
existence. But a nientber of Congress, who was 
present, says : " On this occasion Mr. Clay was a 
' flame of fire. He had now brought Congress to 
' the verge of what he conceived to be a war for lib- 
' erty and honor, and his voice rang through the cap- 
' itol like a trumpet-tone sounding for the onset. On 
' the subject of the policy of the embargo, his elo- 
•* qtience, like a Roman phalanx, bore down all op- 
' position, and he put to shame those of his oppo- 
' nents, vviio flouted the government as being unpre- 
* pared for war." 

The ftlessagc recommending an embargo was re- 
ferred to the coirmiiuee on Foreign Relations, who 
reported a bill lor carrying it into effect, which was 
adopted by the House. In the Senate it underwent 
a slight alteration in the substitution of ninety for 
sixty days as the term of the embargo. This amend- 
ment was concurred in ; and on the fourth of April, 
Mr. Crawford reported the presentation of the bill 
to the President, and that it had received his signa- 
ture. 

Through tlie indefatigable exertions of Mr. Clay 
and his associates, the attitude of resistance to ag- 
gression was now boldly assumed — the first step was 
taken towards a definite declaration of war. 

On assuming the duties of the Speakership, Mr. 
Clay had foreseen, from the peculiar character and 
constitution of mind of that remarkable and distin- 
guished man, John Randolph, that it would be ex- 
tremely difficult to maintain with him relations of 
civility and friendship. He, therefore, resolved to 
act on the principle of never giving and never receiv- 
ing an insult without immediate notice, if he were 
in a place where it could be noticed. Their mode of 
intercourse or non-intercourse was most singular. 
Sometimes weeks, months would pass without their 
speaking lo each other. Then, for an equal space 
of time, no two gentlemen could treat each other 
with more courtesy and attention. Mr. Randolph, 
on entering the House in the morning, while these 
better feelings prevailed, would frequently approach 
the Chair, bow respectfully to the Speaker, and in- 
quire after his health. 

Bnt.Mr. Randolph was impatient of all restraints, 
and eould not brook those which were sometimes 



applied to iiimself by the Speaker in the discharge 
of the duties of tiie Chair. On one occasion he ap- 
pealed to his constituents, and was answered by Mr. 
Clay. The case was this : Mr. Clay, in one of his 
morning rides, passed through Georgetown, where 
Mr. Randolph, the late Mr. J. Lewis, of Virginia, 
and other members of Congress boarded. Meeting 
with Mr. Lewis, that gentleman inquired of him, if 
there were any news ? ftlr. Clay informed him, that 
on the Monday following. President Madison would 
send a message to Congress, recommending a decla- 
ration of war against Great Britain. 

The day after this meeting, Mr. Randolph came 
to the House, and having addressed the Speaker in 
a very rambling, desultory speech for about an hour, 
he was reminded from the chair, that there was no 
question pending before the House. Mr. Randolph 
said he would present one. He was requested to 
state it. He stated that he meant to move a resolu- 
tion, that it was ?}0< expedient to declare war against 
Great Britain." The .Speaker, according to a rule of 
the House, desired him to reduce his resolution to 
writing, and to send it to the chair; which he ac- 
cordingly did. And thereupon the Speaker informed 
him, that before he could proceed in his speech, the 
House must decide that it would now consider his 
resolution. Upon putting that question to the 
House, it was decided by a large majority, that it 
would not consider the resolution; and thus 3Ir. 
Randolph was prevented from haranguing the House 
farther in its support. Of this he complained, and 
published an address to his constituents. 

Some expressions in this address seeming to re- 
quire notice, Mr. Clay addressed a communication 
under his own name, to the editor of the National 
Intelligencer, in which he reviews the questions at 
issue between him and Mr. Randolph, and vindicates 
the justice of his recent decisions in the chair. 

" Two principles," he says, "are settled by these 
decisions; the first is, that the House has a right 
to know, through its organ, the specific motion 
which a member intends making, before he under- 
takes to argue it at large ; and in the second place, 
that it reserves to itself the exercise of the power 
of determining whether it will consider it at the 
particular time when offered, prior to his thus pro- 
ceeding to argue it." 

Every succeeding Congress has acknowledged the 
validity of the principles thus established by Mr. 
Clay. They seem essential to the proper regulation 
of debate in a large legislative body." 

A bill from the Committee on Foreign Relations 
was reported to the House on the third of June, 1812, 
declaring War between Great Britain and her de- 
pendencies and the United States. On the eighteenth 
it had passed both Houses of Congress; and the next 
day the President's proclamation was issued, declar- 
ing the actual existence of War. On the sixth of 
July, Congress adjourned to the first 3Ionday in No- 
vember. 

IMr.Clay, BIr. Lowndes, Mr. Cheves, and Mr. Cal- 
houn, were the leaders, who sustained and carried 
through the declaration of War. Mr. Clay, fully im- 
pressed with the conviction, that the honor and the 
highest interests of the country demanded the de- 
claration, was ardent, active and enthusiastic in its 
support. To hirn was assicrned the responsible duty 
of appointing all the Committees. Mr. Madison's 
Cabinet was not unanimous on tlie subject of war: 



14 



Life of Henry Clay. 



Mr. Madison himself was in favor of it, but seemed 
to go into it Willi much repugnaiice and great appre- 
hension. The character of his mind was one of ex- 
treme caution, bordering on timiihty, althongk he 
acted with vigor and firmness when his resolution 
was once taken. IMr. Gallatin, the Secretary of the 
Treasury, was adverse to the war. 

It was the opinion and wish of Mr. Clay, Mr. 
Cheves, and their friends, that financial as well as 
military and naval preparations should be made for 
the conduct of the war, and previous to its declara- 
tion. Accordingly, Mr. Gallatin was called upon 
to report a system of finance appropriate to the oc- 
casion. He had enjoyed a high reputation for finan- 
cial ability; and it was hoped and anticipated, that 
he would display it when he made his required re- 
port. But llio disappointment was great when his 
report appeared. Instead of indicating any new 
source of revenue — instead of suggesting any great 
plan calling forth the resources of the nation, he re- 
ported in favor of all the old odious taxes — excise, 
stamp duties, .&c. which had been laid during pre- 
vious administrations. It was believed, from the of- 
fensive nature of the taxes, that his object was to re- 
press the war spirit. But far from being discouraged, 
Mr. Clay and his friends resolved to impose the du- 
ties recommended. 

Mr. Cheves was at the head of the Committee of 
Ways and Means, and went laboriously to work to 
prepare numerous bills for the collection of taxes as 
suggested by the Secretary. After they were pre- 
pared and reported, it was for the first time dipcov- 
ered that the Executive, and more especially Mr. 
Gallatin, were opposed to the imposition of taxes at 
the same session during which war was declared. 
This was ascertained by the active' exertions of Mr. 
Smiley, a leading and influential member from Penn- 
sylvania, and the confidential friend of Mr. Gallatin. 
In circles of the members, he would urge in conver- 
sation the expediency of postponing the taxes to 
another session, saying that the people would not 
take both war and taxes together." 

Mr. Clay and his friends were aware that the levy- 
ing of taxes, always a difficult and up-hill business, 
could not be effected without tlie hearty concur- 
rence of the Executive, and therefore reluctantly 
submitted to the postponement — a most unfortunate 
delay, the ill effects of which were felt throughout 
the whole war. Mr. Cheves, who had plied the la- 
boring oar, in preparing the various revenue bills, 
was highly indignant, and especially at the conduct 
of Mr. Gallatin, of whom heever afterwards thought 
unfavorably. 

The negotiations with Mr. Foster, the British 
Change d'Aflaires at Washington, were protracted 
up to the period of the Declaration of War. The Re- 
publican party became impatient of the delay. It 
•was determined that an informal deputation should 
■wait upon Mr. Madison to expostulate against long- 
er procrastination ; and it was agreed that Mr. Clay 
should be the spokesman. The gentlemen of the 
deputation accordingly called on the President, and 
Mr. Clay stated to him, that Congress was impa- 
tient for action ; that further efforts at negotiation 
were vain; that an accommodation was impractica- 
ble; that the haughty spirit of Britain was unbend- 
ing and unyielding ; that submission to her arro- 
gant pretensions, especially that of a right to im- 



press our seamen, was impossible • that enough had 
been done by us with a view to conciliation ; that 
the time for decisive action had arrived, and war 
was inevitable. 

By way of illustrating the difference between 
speaking and writing, and acting, Mr. Clay related 
to Mr. Madison an anecdote of two Kentucky Judges. 
One talked incessantly from the Bench. Ho rea- 
soned every body to death. He would deliver an 
opinion, and first try to convince the party that agreed 
with him and then the opposite party. The conse- 
quence was that business lagged, the docket accu- 
mulated, litigants complained, and the community 
were dissatisfied. He was succeeded by a Judge, 
v.'ho never gave any reasons for his opinion, but de- 
cided the case simply, for the plaintiff or the de- 
fendant. His decisions were rarely reversed by the 
appellate Court — the docket melted away — litigants 
were no longer exposed to ruinous delay — and the 
community were contented. Surely, said Mr. Clay, 
we have exhausted the argument with Great Britain. 

Mr. Madison enjoyed the joke, but, in his good- 
natured, sly way, said, he also had heard an anec- 
dote, of a French Judge, who after the argument of 
the cause was over, put the papers of the contend- 
ing parties into opposite scales, and decided accor- 
ding to the preponderance of weight. 

Speaking of the opposition of the Federal party 
Mr. Clay remarked, that they were neither to be 
conciliated nor silenced — " let us do wliat we sin- 
' cerely believe to be right, and trust to God and the 
goodness of our cause." 

Mr. Madison said, that our institutions were found- 
ed upon the principle of the competency of man for 
self-government, and that we should never be tired 
of appealing to the reason and judgment of the peo- 
ple. 

Such deference did Mr. Madison have, however, 
for the opinion and advice of his (rjends, that shortly 
after this conference, he transmitted his war mes- 
sage to Congress. 

The second session of the twelfth Congress too'i 
place at the appointed time. Events of an impor 
tant character had occurred since it last met. The 
war had been prosecuted ; and we had sustained 
some reverses. General Hull, to whom had been 
assigned the defence of the 31ichigan frontier, had, 
after an unsuccessful incursion into the neighboring 
territory of the enemy, surrendered ingloriously the 
town and fort of Detroit. 

An attack was made on a post of the enemy near 
Niagara, by a detachment of regular and other forces 
under Major-General Van Rensselaer, and after dis- 
playing much gallantry had been compelled to yield, 
with considerable loss, to reinforcements of Savages 
and British regulars. 

But though partially unsuccessful on the land, the 
Americans had won imperishable trophies on the 
sea. Our public .ships and private cruisers had 
made the enemy sensible of the difference between 
a reciprocity of captures, and the long confinement 
of them to their side. The frigate Constiiution, com- 
manded by Captain Hull, after a close and short en- 
gagement, had completely disabled the British fri- 
gate Guprriere. A vast amount of properly Imd 
been saved to the country hy the course pursued by 
a sqtiadron of our frigates under the command oJ 
Commodore Rodgers. 



Defence of the War. 



15 



A strong disposition to adjust existing diflicultics 
with Great Britain had, in the mean time, been mani- 
ested by our Government. Our Ciiarge des Af- 
faires at London had been authorized to accede to 
certain terms, hy which the war might be arrested, 
without awaiting the delays of a formal and fnial 
pacification. 

These terms required substantially, that the Bii- 
tish orders in council should be repealed as they af- 



spirit, a precious iidieritance for generationa to come, 
and for this he can never be forgiven. 

'•How vain and impotent is party rage, directed 
against such a man! He is not more elevated by his 
lofcy residence vipon the summit of his own fr.vorito 
mountain, than he is lilied by the serenity of his mind, 
and the consciousnesss of a well-spent life, above 
the indignant passions and feelings of the day. No 1 
his own beloved Monticello is not less moved by 
the storms that boat against its sides, than is this 
illustrious man by the bowlings of the whole British 



fected the United States, without a revival of block- p^^j^ jgf j^ogg fro,„ t|,e Essex kennel ! 



ades violating acknowledged rules; that there should 
be an immediate discharge of American seamen from 
British ships. On such terms an armistice was pro- 
posed by our Government. 

These advances were declined by Great Britain 
from an avowed repugnance to a suspension of ike 
jn-actice of impressment during the armistice. 

Early in January, 1813, a bill from the Military 
Committee of the House, for the raising of an addi- 
tional force, not exceeding twenty thousand men, un- 
derwent a long and animated discussion in commit- 
tee of the whole. The opposition on this occasion 
rallied all their strength to denounce the measure. 
Mr. Quincy, to whom we have before alluded, made 
a most bitter harangue against it and its supporters. 
" Since the invasion of the buccaneers," said Mr. 
Q. "there is nothing in history like this war." Al- 
luding to some of the friends of the administration, 
he stigmatized them as "household troops, who 
lounged for what they could pick up about the gov- 
ernment house — toad-eaters, who lived on eleemo- 
synary, ill-purchased courtesy, upon the palace, 
who swallowed great men's spittle, got judgeships, 
and wondered at the fine sights, fine rooms, and fine 
company, and, most of all, wondered how they them- 
selves got there." 

Napoleon Bonaparte and Thomas Jefferson came 
in for no small share of the same gentleman's abuse. 
On the eighth of January, Mr. Clay rose in de- 
fence of the new army bill, and in reply to the vio- 
lent and personal remarks, which had fallen from 
the opposition. His effort on this occasion was one 
of the most brilliant in his whole career. It is im- 
perfectly reported ; for Mr. Clay has been alwaj s 
too inattentive to the preparation of his speeches for 
the press. To form an adequate idea of his eloquence 
we must look to the effect it produced — to the legis- 
lation which it swayed. 

That portion of Mr. Clay's speech, in which he 
vindicated his illustrious friend, Thomas Jefferson, 
froin the aspersions of the leader of the Federalists, 
has been deservedly admired as a specimen'of ener- 
getic and indignant eloquence. It must have fallen 
with crushing effect upon him who called it forth : 

" Next to the notice which the opposition has 
found itself called upon to bestow upon the French 
Emperor, a distinguished citizen of Virginia, former- 
y President of the United States, has never for a 
moment failed to receive their kindest and most 
respectful attention. An honorable gentleman from 
Massachusettg (of whom I am sorry to say it be- 
comes necessary for me, in the course of my remarks, 
to take some notice,) has alluded to him in a re- 
markable manner. Neither his retirement from pub- 
lic office, his eminent services, nor his advanced age, 
can exempt this patriot from the coarse assaults of 
party malevolence. No, sir ; in 1801 he snatched 
from the rude bands of usurpation the violated con- 
stitution of the country, and that is his crime. He 
preserved that instrument in form and substance and 



When the gentleman, to whom I have been com- 
pelled to allude, shall have mingled his dust with 
that of his abused ancestors — when he shall havo 
been consigned to oblivion, or, if he live at all, shall 
live only in the treasonable annals of a certain jun- 
to, the name of Jefferson will be hailed with grati- 
tude, his memory honored and cherished as the se- 
cond founder of the liberties of the people, and tlta 
period of his administration will be looked back to 
as one of the happiest and brightest epochs in Amer 
ican history. 

" But I beg the gentleman's pardon. He has in 
deed secured to himself a more imperishable fame 
than I had supposed. I think it was about four yeara 
ago that he submitted to the House of Representa- 
tives, an initiative proposition for an iinpeachment 
of Mr. Jefferson. The House condescended to con- 
sider it. The gentleman debated it with his usiial 
temper, moderation and urbanity. The House de- 
cided upon it in the most solemn manner ; and, al- 
though the gentleman had somehow obtained a se- 
cond, the final vote stootl, one for, and one hundred 
and seventeen against the proposition ! The same 
historic page that transmitted to posterity the virtue 
and glory of Henry the Great of France, for their 
admiration and example, has preserved the infamous 
name of the fanatic assassin of the excellent monarch. 
The same sacred pen that portrayed the sufferings 
and crucifixion of the Saviour of mankind, has re- 
corded for universal execration the name of him who 
was guilty — not of betraying his country — but — a 
kindred crime — of betraying his God !"* 

In other parts of his speech, Mr. Clay electrified 
the House by his impassioned eloquence. The day 
was intensely cold, and, for the only time in his life, 
he found it difficult to keep himself warm by the ex 
ercise of speaking. But the members crowdecJ 
around him in hushed admiration ; and there wei-e 
few among them who did not testify by their stream- 
ing tears his mastery over the passions. The sub- 
ject of impressment was touched upon; and the 
matchless pathos with which he depicted the conse- 
quences of that infernal system — portraying the 
situation of a supposed victim to its tyrannic outra- 
ges — thrilled through every heart. The reported 
passage can but feebly convey a conception of the 
impression produced. As well might we attempt to 
form an adequate idea of one of Raphael's picture* 
from a written description, as to transcribe the elo- 
quence of Clay on this occasion. Even were his 
glowing words fully and correctly given, how much 
of the effect would be lost in the absence of that 
sweet and silvery voice — that graceful and expres- 
sive action — those flashing eyes — which gave life 
and potency and victory to his languaage! 

In conclusion, Mr. Clay said : — " My plan would 
' be to cull out the ample resources of the country, 
' give them a judicious direction, prosecute the war 
' with the utmost vigor, strike wherever we can reach 
' the enemy, at sea or on land, and negotiate the 

* When the proposition was made to impeach Tliomns JefFer- 
non Mr. Clay is said so have risen, and exclaimed in referencv 
to the mover, " Sir, the gendeman soils the spot he staiida upon.''' 



16 



Life of Henry Clay, 



* terms of a peace at Quebec or at Halifax. We are 

* told that England is a proud and lofiy nation, 
' which, disdiiiuing to wait for danger, meets it half 
'way. Haughty as she is, we once triumphed over 

* her, and, if we do not listen to the counsels of timi- 

* dity and despair, we shall again prevail. In such 

* a cause, with the aid of Providence, we must come 
'out crowned with success; but if we fail, let us 
' fail like men — 'ash ourselves to our gallant tars, 

* and expire together in one comniou struggle — 

* FIGHTING FOR FkEE TkaDE AND SeaMEN's 

'Rights ! " 

The Army Bill, thus advocated by Mr. Clay, 
passed the House on the 14th of January, 1813, by 
a vote of seventy-?even to forty-two. 

On the tenth of February, the President of the 
Senate, in the presence of both Houses of Congress, 
proceeded to open the certificates of the Electors of 
the several States for President and Vice President 
of the United States. The vote stood : For Presi- 
dent, .lames Madison, 128: De Witt Clinton, 89.— 
For Vice President, Elbridge Gerry, 131 ; Jared 
Ingersoll, 80. James Madison and Elbridge Gerry 
were accordingly elected — the former for a second 
term. The War Policy of the Administration was 
triumphantly sustained by the People. 

The first session of the Thirteenth Congress com- 
menced the twenty-fourth of May, 1813. Mr. Clay 
■was again chosen Speaker by a large majority, and 
his voice of exhortation and encouragement con- 
tinued to be raised in Committee of the Whole in 
vindication of the honor of the Country and the con- 
duct of the War. The President, in his Message, 
alluded to the spirit in which the war had been 
waged by the British, who " were adding to the 
' savage fury of it on one frontier, a system of plun- 
' der and conflagration on the other, equally forbid- 
' den by respect for national character and by the 
'established rules of civilized warfare." 

Mr. Clay eloquently called attention to this por- 
tion of the Message, and declared that if the out- 
rages said to have been committed by the British 
armies and their savage allies should be found to be 
as public report had stated them, they called for the 
indignation of all Christendom, and ought to be em- 
bodied in an authentic document, which might per- 
petuate them on the page of history. Upon his mo- 
tion, a resolution was adopted, referring this portion 
of the President's Message to a Select Committee, 
of which Mr. ftlacon was Chairman. A Report was 
subsequently submitted from this Committee, in 
which an abundance of testimony was brought for- 
ward, showing that the most inhuman outrages had 
been repeatedly perpetrated upon American prison- 
ers by the Indian allies of British troops, and often 
under the eye of British ofBcers. The report closed 
with a resolution requesting the President to lay 
before the House, during the progress of the war, 
all the instances of departure, by the British, from 
the ordinary mode of conducting war among civil- 
ized nations. 

The new Congress had commenced its session at 
a period of general exultation among all patriotic 
Americans. Several honorable victories by sea and 
land had shed lustre on our annals. Captain Law- 
rence, of the Hornet, with but eighteen guns, had 
captured, after a brisk and gallant action of fifteen 
minutes, the British sloop of war I'eacock, Captain 



I Peake, carrying twenty-two guns and one hundred 

and tiiirty men— the latter losing her Captain and 

I nine men with thirty wounded, while our loss was 

j but one killed and two wounded. York, the capital 

I of Upper Canada, had been captured l)y the army of 

I the centre, in connection with a naval force on Lake 

Ontario, under Gen. Dearborn ; while the issue of 

the siege of Fort Meigs, under Gen. Harrison, had 

won for that ofiker an imperishable renown as a 

brave and skilful soldier. 

In September of the preceding year, the Emperor 
Alexander of Russia had intimated to Mr. Adams, 
our Minister at St. Petersburgh, his intention ot 
tendering his services as ftlediator between the Uni- 
ted States and Great Britain. The proposition iiad 
been favorably received, and assurances had been 
given to the Emperor of the earnest desire of our 
Government that the interest of Russia might remain 
entirely nnafl'octed by the existing war between us 
and England, and that no more intimate connections 
with France would be formed by the United States. 
With these assurances the Emperor had been highly 
gratified ; and in the early part of March, 1813, the 
Russian Minister at Washington, BI. Daschkofil', had 
formally proft'ercd the mediation of his Government, 
which was readily accepted by the President. It 
was rejected, however, by the British Government, 
to the great surprise of our own, on the ground that 
their conmiercial and maritime rights would not 
thereby be as effectually secured as they deemed 
necessary; but, accompanying the rejection, was an 
expression of willingness to treat directly with the 
United Htates, either at Gottcnburg or at London; 
and the interposition of the Emperor was requested 
in favor of such an arrangement. 

In consequence of the friendly offer of the Rus- 
sian Government, Messrs. Albert Gallatin and 
James A. Bayard had been sent to join our resident 
Minister, Mr. Adams, as Envoys Extraordinary at 
St. Petersburgh. The proposal of the British 
Ministry, to treat with us at Gottenburg, was soon 
after accepted, and Messrs. Clay and Jonathan 
Russell were appointed, in conjunction with the 
three Plenipotentiaries then in Russia, to conduct 
the negotiations. On the 19ih of January, 1814, 
Mr. Clay, in an appropriate Address, accordingly 
resigned his station as Speaker of the House. The 
same day a Resolution was passed by that body, 
thanking him for the ability and impartiality with 
which he had presided. The Resolution was 
adopted almof^t unanimously — only nine Members 
voting in opposition. 

Mr. Clay had always aeseited that an honorable 
Peace was attainable only by an efiicicnt War. In 
Congress he had been the originator and most ar- 
dent supporter of nearly all those measures which 
had for their object the vigorous prosecution of 
hostilities against Great Britain. On every occa- 
sion his trumpet-voice was heard, cheering on the 
House and the Country to conlldenco and victory. 
No auguries of i^vil — no croakings of despondency — 
no suggestions of timidity — no violence of Federal 
opposition could for a moment shake his patriotic 
purposes, diminish his reliance on the justice of our. 
cause, or induce him to hesitate in that policy, which 
be believed the honor and — what was inseparable 
from the honor — the interests, of the Country de- 
manded. 



Nefroliation at Ghent. 



17 



f'f 



The measure of gratitude due him from his fel- 
low citizens, for liis exertions in tills cause alone, is 
not to be calculated or paid. But in that scroll 
where Freedom inscribes the names of her worthiest 
champions, destined to an immortal renown in her 
annals, the name of Henry Clay will be found 
with those of Washington, Jeffkrson and 
Madison. 

Having been the most efficient leader in directing 
the legislative action which originated and directed 
to a prosperous termination the War witli Great 
Britain — a War which the voice of an impartial 
Posterity must admit to have elevated and strength- 
ened us as a Nation — ftlr. Clay was now appro- 
priately selected as one of the Commissioners to 
arrange a Treaty of Peace. 



CHAPTER IV. 

/ 

Meeting of the Ghent Commissioners— Mr. Clay visits Brus- 
sels—Anecdote — Mode of transnrting Business- Untoward 
Event— Mr. Clay refuses to surrender to the British the Right 
•x) Navigate the Mississippi— His Reasons— Controversy be- 
tween Messrs. Adams ami Russell— Mr. Clay's Letter— Goes 
to Paris— Is introduced to the Duke of Wellington by Madame 
de Stael— Hears of the Battle of New-Orleans— Visits Eng- 
land — Lord Castlereagh and his First Waiter — Waterloo and 
Napoleon— Mr. Clay's Reception in England— Declines going 
to Court— Sir James Mackmtosh— Lord Gambler, &c.— Mr. 
Clay's Return to New-York— Reception— Re-elected to Con- 
eres-s— Vindication of the War— Internal Improvements— His 
Country, his whole Country. 

The Commissioners met first at Gottingen, but 
their meetings were afterward transferred to Ghent. 
The conferences occupied a space of time of abowt 
five months. The American Commissioners were 
in reality negotiating with the whole British Min- 
istry; for, whenever they addressed a Diplomatic 
note of any importance to the British Commis- 
sioners, it was by them transinitted to London, from 
which place the substance of an answer was re- 
turned in the form of instructions. The conse- 
quence was, that the American Commissioners, 
after having delivered a Diplomatic note, had to 
wait about a week before they received a reply. 

In one of these pauses of the negotiation, Mr. 
Clay made a little excursion to Brussels, and Mr. 
Goulbourne went there at the same titne. The Brit- 
ish Commissioners had been in the habit of sending 
their English newspapers to the American Commis- 
sioners, through which the latter often derived the 
first intelligence of events occurring in America. 

The morning after Mr. Clay's arrival in Brussels, 
upon his coming down to breakfast, his servant, 
Frederick Cara, whom he had taken with him from 
the City of Washington, threv/ some papers upon 
the breakfast table, and burst into tears. " What's 
the matter, Frederick ?" The British have taken 
Washington, Sir, and ftlr. Goulbourne has sent you 
those papers, which contain the account." " Is it 
possible?" exclaimed Mr. Clay. "It is too true. 
Sir" returned Frederick, whining piteously. 

The news was by no means agreeable to Mr. Clay; 
nor was his concern diminished when he thought of 
the channel through which it had been conveyed to 
him, although fully persuaded that Mr. Goulbourne 
had not been actuated by any uncourteous spirit of 
«xultation. Mr. Clay nevertheless resolved to avail 
himself of the first favorable opportunity for friendly 
retaliation; and one fortunately soon occurred. A 
point in the negotiation, which had been very much 



pressed, was pacification with the Indians, which the 
American Commissioners assured the British would 
necessarily follow pacilication with Great Britain. 
The former received some recent American news- 
papers containing an account of the actual conclu- 
sion of peace with some of the Indian tribes, but 
containing also an account of ouc of the splendid 
naval victories won on Lake Champlain or Lake 
Eric. Mr. Clay proposed to the American Com- 
missioners, that these newspapers should be sent to 
the British, ostensibly for the purpose of showing 
that peace was made with some of the Indiana, but 
in reality to afibrd them an opportunity of perusing 
the account of that victory. With the concurrence 
of his colleagues, he accordingly addressed an offi- 
cial note to the British Commissioners transmitting 
the newspapers. 

The mode of transacting business among the 

American Commissioners was, upon the teceptioir 

of an official note from the other party to deliberate 

' fully upon its contents, and to discuss them at a 

; board. After that, the paper was placed in the 

I hands of one of the Commissioners to prepare an 

answer. Upon the preparation of that answer, it 

was carefully examined and considered by the board, 

I every member of which took it to his lodgings to 

j suggest in pencil such alterations as appeared to 

j him proper; and these were again considered and 

! finally adopted or rejected, and the paper handed to 

the Secretary to be be copied and recorded. 
j In the composition of the official notes sent by the 
American to the British Commissioners, the pen of 
I Mr. Gallatin was, perhaps, most frequently em- 
ployed; then that of Mr. Adams; then that of Mr. 
^ Clay. Messrs. Bayard and Russell wrote the least. 
t During tlie progress of the negotiation and at a 
very critical period of it, the official dispatches of 
the American Commissioners, giving a full account 
of the prospects of the negociation, and expressing 
very little hope of its successful termination, having 
been published by the order of the American Go- 
I vemment, came back to the Commissioners at Ghent 
in the newspapers. They arrived in the evening, 
just as the American Commissioners were dressed 
i to go to a ball given to the Commissioners by the 
authorities of Ghent. The unexpected publication 
of these dispatches excited the surprise and regret 
of the American Commissioners. Some of them 
j thought that a rupture of the negotiation would be 
the consequence. Mr. Clay, on account of his open 
and frank manner, was on terms of more unreserved 
and free intercourse with the British Commission- 
ers than any of his colleagues, and he resolved that 
evening to sound the former as to the eftect of this 
publication of the dispatches. He accordingly ad- 
dressed himself to the three Commissioners sever- 
ally in succession at the ball, beginning with Lord 
Gambler, who was the most distinguished for ame- 
nity and benevolence of character, and saying: 
" You perceive, ray Lord, that our Government has 
published our dispatches, and that now the whole 
world knows what we are doing here." " Yes," re- 
plied his Lordship, " I have seen it with infinite sur- 
prise, and the proceeding is without example in the 
civilized world." To which Mr. Clay mildly re- 
joined : " Why, my Lord, you must recollect that, 
at the time of the publication of those dispatches, 
our Government bad every reason to suppose, from. 



18 



Life of Henry Clay. 



the nature of the preteiieions and demands, which 
yours brought forward, that our negotiation would 
not terminate successlully, and that tlie j)ublication 
would not find us here together. 1 am (juite sure, 
that if our Government hud anticipated ilie jjrosent 
favorable aspect of our deliberations, the publica- 
tion of the dispatches would not have been ordered. 
Then, your Lordship must also recollect, tliat if, as 
you truly asserted, the publication of disjiatches 
pending a negotiation is not according to the cus- 
tom of European diplomacy, our Government itself 
is organized upon principles totally different from 
those on which European Governments are consti- 
tuted. With us, the business in which we were here 
engaged, is the people's business. We are their 
aervants, and they have a right to know how their 
business is going on. The publication, therefore, 
was to give the people information of what intimate- 
ly affected them." 

Lord Gambler did not appear to be satisfied with 
this explanation, although he was silenced by it. 
Mr. Clay had a similar interview with the two other 
British Commissioners ; and their feelings, in con- 
sequence of the publication, were marked by the 
degree of excitability of their respective characters. 
But the fears which were entertained by some of 
the American Commissioners were not realized. 
The publication was never spoken of in conference, 
and the negotiation proceeded to a successful issue 
as if it had not happened. 

Between the American Commissioners, in the con- 
duct of the negotiation at Ghent, no serious diflicul- 
ty arose, except on one point, and that related to the 
subject of the Fisheries and navigation of the Mis- 
sissippi. By the third article of the definitive Treaty 
of peace with Great Britain concluded in Septem- 
ber, 1783, certain riglits of fishing, and of drying and 
curing fish within the limits of British jurisdiction, 
and upon British soil, were secured to the citizens 
of the LTnited States. And by the eighth article of 
the same Treaty, it was stipulated that the right to 
the navigation of the River Mississippi, from its 
source to the Ocean, should remain for ever free and 
open to the subjects of Great Britain and the citi- 
zens of the United States. The same mutual right 
of navigation was recognized by Mr. Jay's treaty of 
1794. 

When the American Commissioners were in con- 
sultation as to the project of a treaty to be presented 
to the consideration of the British Commissioners, 
it was proposed that an article should be inserted 
renewing those rights of taking and curing and dry- 
ing fish, and of the navigation of the Mississippi. 
To such a proposal, Mr. Clay was decidedly op- 
posed, and Mr. Russell concurred with him. The 
other three Commissioners were for making the pro- 
posal. The argument on that question was long, 
earnest and ardent. Mr. Clay contended, that the 
right of catching fish in the open seas and bays, be- 
ing incontestible, the privilege of taking them and 
curing and drying them within the exclusive juris- 
diction of Great Britain was of little or no impor- 
tance, especially as it was limited to the time that 
the British Territory should remain unsettled. With 
respect to the navigation of the Mississippi, he coti- 
tended, that at the dates both of the definitive Treaty 
of peace of 1783, and of Mr. Jay's Treaty of 1794, 
Spain owned the whole of the right bank of the 



Mississippi, in all its extent, and both banks of it 
from the Mexican Gulf up to the boundary of the 
United States. That at both those periods, it was 
supposed that the British Dominions touched on the 
Upper Mississippi, but it was now known that they 
did not border at all on that river. That now the 
whole Mississijjpi, from its uppermost source to the 
gulf, was iiicontestibly wiihin the limits of the 
United States. He could not, therefore, conceive 
the propriety of stipulating wiih Great Britain for a 
mutual right to the navigation of that river. It was 
the largest river in the United States; so large as to 
have acquired the denomination of the Father of 
rivers. Why select it from among all the rivers of 
the United States, and subject it to a foreign vassal- 
age? Why do that in respect to the Mississippi 
which would not be tolerated as respects the North 
River, the James, or the Potomac ? What would 
Great Britain herself think if a proposal were made 
that the citizens of the United States and the sub- 
jects of Great Britain should have a mutual right 
to navigate the Thames ? To make the proposed 
concession, was to admit of a British partnership 
with the United States in the sovereignty of the 
Mississippi, so far as its navigation was concerned. 
Then there might be a doubt and a dispute whether 
the concession did not com])rehend the tributaries 
as well as the principal stream. If the grant of thts 
right to navigate the Mississippi was to be regarded 
as an equivalent for the concession of the fishing 
privileges, Mr. Clay denied that there was any af- 
finity between the two subjects. They were as dis- 
tant in their nature as they were remote from each 
other in their localities. 

On the other side, it was contended that it would 
occasion regret and dissatisfaction in tlie United 
States, if any of the fishing privileges, or other pri- 
vileges, which had been enjoyed before the break- 
ing out of tlie War, should not be secured by 
the treaty of peace. That tliose fishing privileges 
were very important and dear to a section of the 
Union, which had been adverse to the war. That 
the British right to the navigation of the Mississippi 
was a merely nominal concession, which would not 
result inany practical injury to the United States. 
That foreigners now enjoyed tlie right to navigate 
all the rivers up to the ports of entry established 
upon them, without any prejudice to our interests. 
That Great Britain had been entitled to this right of 
navigating the Mississippi from the period of the 
acquisition of Louisiana to the Declaration of War 
in 1812, without any mischief or inconvenience to 
the United States. 

To all this, Mr. Clay replied that if we lost the 
fishing privileges within the exclusive jurisdiction, 
we gained the total exemption of the Mississippi 
from this foreign particijjation with us in the right 
to its navigation. That the uncertainty as to the 
extent of privileges which tlie British right to navi- 
gate the Mississippi comprised, far from recommend- 
ing the concession to him, formed an additional ob- 
jection to it. That the period of about eight years 
between the ac(iuisition of Louisiana and the Decla- 
ration of War, was too short for us to ascertain by 
experience what i)racticnl use Great Britain was 
capable of making of that right of navigation, which 
might be injurious to us. We knew that a greaj 
many of the Indian Tribes were situated upon th» 



Proceedings at Ghent — Mr. Clay at Paris. 



19 



sources of the Mississippi. The British right to na- 
vigate tiiat river might bring her in direct contact 
with them, and we had sufficient experience of the 
pernicious use she might make of those Indians. — 
He was as anxious us any of liis colleagues to se- 
cure all the rights of fishing, and curing and drying 
fish, which had hitherto been enjoyed; but he could 
not consent to purchase of temporary and uncertain 
privileges within the British limits, al the expense of 
putting a foreign and degrading mark upon the no- 
blest of all our rivers. 

After the argument, which was extended to seve- 
ral sessions of the consultation meetings of the 
American Commissioners, was exhausted, it ap- 
peared that the same three Commissioners were in- 
clined to make the proposal. In that stage of the 
proceeding, Mr. Clay said, he felt it due to his col- 
leagues to state to them that he would affix his sig- 
nature to no Treaty which should make to Great 
Britain the contemplated concession. After the an- 
nouncement of this determination, Mr. Bayard uni- 
ted with Messrs. Clay and Russell, and then formed 
a majority against tendering the proposal — and it 
was not made. 

But, at a subsequent period of the negotiation, 
when the British Commissioners made their propo- 
sitions for a Treaty, one of the propositions was to 
renew the British right to navigate the Mississippi 
simply, without including the fishing privileges in 
question. On examining this proposal, the Ameri- 
can Commissioners considered, first, whether they 
should accept the proposal with or witliont condi- 
tions. All united in agreeing that it ought not to 
be unconditionally accepted. But the same tliree 
Commissioners who had been originally in favor of 
an article which should include both the Mississippi 
and the fishing privileges within the British limits, 
appeared to be now in favor of accepting the British 
proposal, upon the condition that it should compre- 
hend those fishing privileges. Mr. Clay did not re- 
new the expression of his determination to sign no 
Treaty which should concede to the British the right 
to the navigation of the Mississippi, although he re- 
mained fixed in that purpose; for he apprehended 
that a repetition of the expression of his determina- 
tion might be misconceived by his colleagues. 

It was accordingly proposed to the British Com- 
missioners to accept their proposal with the condi- 
tion just stated. In a subsequent conference be- 
tween the two commissions, the British declined ac- 
cepting the proposed conditions, and it was mutually 
agreed to leave both subjects out of the Treaty. And 
thus, as Mr. Clay wished from the first, the Missis- 
sippi River became liberated from all British preten- 
sions of a right to navigate it from the Ocean to its 
source. 

A controversy having arisen between Messrs. 
Adams and Russell, about the year 1823, in respect 
to some points in the negotiations at Ghent, an em- 
bittered correspondence took place between those 
two gentlemen. In the course of it, Mr. Clay 
thought that Mr. Adams had unintentionally fallen 
into some errors, which Mr. Clay, in a note fid- 
dressed to the public, stated he would at some fu- 
ture day correct. About the year IfiQo or 1829, Mr. 
Russell, without the previous consent of Mr. (Jlay, 
published a confidential letter addressed by Mr. 
Clay to him, in which Mr. C. expresses liis condem- 



nation of Mr. Russell's course in the alteration of 
some of his letters, which had been charged and 
proved upon him by Mr. Adams. In that same let- 
ter, Mr. Clay gives his explanation of some of the 
transactions at Ghent, respecting which he thought 
Mr. Adams was mistaken. The publication of the 
confidential letter sujjerscded the necessity of mak- 
ing the corrections which Mr. C. had intended. In 
this letter, Mr. Clay in no instance impugns the mo- 
tives of Mr. Adams, nor does it contain a line from 
which an unfriendly state of feeling on the part of 
the writer toward iMr. Adams could be inferred. 

Such was Mr. Clay's pride of country that he had 
resolved not to go to England until he had heard of 
the ratification of the 'I'reaty of Ghent. After the 
termination of the negotiations he went to Paris, and 
accepted the invitation of ftlr. Crawford, our Minis- 
ter, to take apartments in his hotel. BIr. Clay re- 
mained in Paris during upward of two months. On 
the night of his arrival in that brilliant metropolis, 
he found at Mr. Crawford's an invitation to a ball 
given by the American banker, Mr. HottinguJir, on 
the occasion of the pacification between the United 
States and Great Britain. There he met for the first 
time the celebrated Madame de Stael — was intro- 
duced to her, and had with her a long and animated 
conversation. 

" Ah ! " said she, " Mr. Clay, I have been in Eng- 
land, and have been battling your cause for you 
there." — " I know it, Madame ; we heard of your 
powerful interposition, and we are grateful and 
thankful for it." — " They were very much enraged 
against you," said she : " so nuich so, that they at 
one time thought seriously of sending the Duke 
of Wellington to command their Armies against 
you ! " — " I am very sorry, Madame," replied Mr. 
Clay, " that they did not send his Grace." — " Why ? " 
asked she, surprised. — " Because, Madame, if he had 
beaten us, we should only have been in the condition 
of Europe, without disgrace. But, if we had been 
so fortunate as to defeat him, we should have greatly 
added to the renown of our arms." 

The next time he met Madame de Stael was at a 
party at her own house, which was attended by the 
Marshals of France, the Duke of Wellington, and 
other distinguished persons. She introduced Mr» 
Clay to the Duke, and at the same time related the 
above anecdote. He replied, with promptness and 
politeness, that if he had been sent on that service, 
and had been so fortunate as to have been success- 
ful over a foe as gallant as the Americans, lie would 
have regarded it as the proudest feather in his cap. 

During his stay in Paris, Mr. Clay heard of the 
issue of the Battle of New-Orleans. Now," said 
he to his infonnant, " I can go to England without 
mortification." But he expressed himself greatly 
mortified at the inglorious flight attributed, in the 
Dispatches of the American General, to a portion 
of the Kentucky Militia, which 3Ir. Clay pronouced 
must be a mistake. 

Having heard of the ratification of the Treaty of 
Ghent, Mr. Cbty left Paris for England in March, 
131.5, just before the arrival of Bonnparte in the 
French Capital. He thus missed the opportunity 
of seeing the Great Corsican. He would have re- 
mained in Paris for the purpose, had he supposed 
the Emperor would arrive so soon. It was about 
this time that Louis XVIII. left Paris, and took up 



20 



Life of Henry Clay, 



his residence in Ghent, near tlie Hotel which the 
American Commissioners had recently occupied. 

On his arrival in England, before any of the otlier 
American Commissionera Mr. Clay had an inter- 
view with Lord Castlereagh, who contracted for 
him s hig\. esteem, which was frequently mani- 
fested during his sojourn in England. Lord C. 
offered to present him to the Prince Regent. Mr. 
Clay said he would go througli the ceremony, if it 
were deemed necessary or respectful. Lord Castle- 
reagh said that, having been recognized in his public 
character by the British Government, it was not 
necessary, and that ho might omit it or not, as he 
pleased. Mr. Clay's repugnance to the parade of 
Courts prevented his presentation, and he never saw 
the Prince. He met, however, with most of the 
other members of the Royal Family. 

A kvf days after his interview with Lord Castle- 
reagh, the keeper of the house at which Mr. Clay 
lodged announced a person who wished to speak 
with him. Mr. Clay directed him to be admitted; 
and, on his entrance, he perceived an individual, 
dressed apparently in great splendor, come forward, 
whom he took to be a Peer of the Realm. He rose 
and asked his visitor to be seated, but the latter 
declined, and observed that he was the First Waiter 
of my Lord Castlereagh ! " The First Waiter of 
my Lord Castlereagh ! " exclaimed 31r. Clay, " well, 
■what is your pleasure with me ? "— " Why, if your 
Excellency pleases," said the man, " it is usual for 
a Foreign Minister, when presented to Lord Castle- 
reagh, to make to his First Waiter a present, or pay 
him tlie customary stipend ; " at the same time hand- 
ing to Mr. Clay a long list of names of Foreign Min- 
isters, with the sum which every one had paid affixed 
•to his name. 

Mr. Clay, tliiuking it a vile extortion, took the 
jpaper, and, while reading it, thought how he should 
repel so exceptionable a demand. He returned it 
to the servant, telling him that, as it was tlie custom 
of the country, he presumed it was all right • but 
that he was not the Minister to England ; Mr. Adams 
was the Minister, and was daily expected from Paris, 
and, he had no doubt, would do whatever was right. 
" But," said the seiTant, very promptly, " if your 
' Excellency pleases, it makes no difierencc whether 
• tlie Minister presented be the Resident Minister or 
■' £ Special Minister, as I understand your Excel- 
•' lescy to be; — it is always paid." Mr. Clay, who 
>had come to England to argue with the master, find- 
ing himself in danger of being beaten in argument 
ifay the man, concluded it was best to conform to the 
<Msage, objectionable as he thought it; and, looking 
over the paper for the smallest sum paid by any 
otlier Minister, handed the fellow five guineas and 
/Jismissed him. 

Mr. Clay was in London when the Battle of 
Waterloo was fought, and witnessed the illumi- 
nations, bonfires and rejoicings to which it gave 
rise. For a day or two, it was a matter of great 
uncertainty what had become of Napoleon. During 
this interval of anxious suspense, Mr. Clay dined at 
Lord Castlercagh's with the American Ministers, 
Messrs. Adams and Gallatin, and the British Minis- 
try. Bonaparte's flijiht and probable jilacc of refuge 
became the topics of conversation. Among other 
conjectures, it was suggested that he might have 
rjmc to the United States ; and Lord Liverpool, ad- 



dressing Mr. Clay, asked :— "If he goes there, will 
he not give you a good deal of trouble?" — "Not 
the least, my Lord," replied Mr. Clay, with his 
habitual promptitude—" we shall be very glad to 
receive him; we would treat him with all hospi- 
tality, and very soon make of him a good Democrat" 
The reply produced a very hearty peal of laughter 
from the whole company, 

Mr. Clay was received in the British circles, both 
of the Ministry and the Opposition, with the most 
friendly consideration. The late Sir James Mack- 
intosh was one of his first acquaintances in Lon- 
don;— and of the lamented Sir Samuel Romilly and 
his beautiful and accomplished lady, Mr. Clay has 
been heard to remark, that they presented one of the 
most beautiful examples of a happy man and wife 
that he had ever seen. He passed a most agreeable 
week with his Ghent friend. Lord Gambler, at Iver 
Grove, near Windsor Castle. Of this pious and 
excellent nobleman, Mr. Clay has ever retained a 
lively and friendly recollection. He visited with 
him Windsor Castle, Frogmore Lodge, the residence 
of the descendant of William Penn, and saw the 
wife of George HL and some of the daughters. 

Li September, 1815, Mr. Clay returned to his own 
country, arriving in New York, which port he had 
left in JIarch, 1814. A Public Dinner was given to 
him and Mr. Gallatin, soon after their disem- 
barkation. Every where, on his route homeward 
to his adopted State, he was received with con- 
tinual demonstrations of public gratitude and ap- 
probation. In Kentucky he was hailed with every 
token of affection and respect. The Board of Trus- 
tees of Lexington waited upon him and presented their 
thanks for his eminent services in behalf of his 
country. 

On the seventh of October, the citizens of the same 
town gave him a public dinner. In reply to a toast 
complimentary to the American negotiators, he 
made some brief and eloquent remat-ks concerning 
the circumstances under which the Treaty liad been 
concluded, and the general condition of the country, 
both at the commencement and the close of the war. 
At the same festival, in reply to a toast highly com 
plimentary to himself, he thanked the company for 
their kind and affectionate attention. His reception, 
he said, had been more like that of a brother than a 
common friend or acquaintance, and he was utterly 
incapable of finding words to express his gratitude. 
He compared his situation to that of a Swedish gen- 
tleman, at a festival in England, given by the Soci • 
ety for the Relief of Foreigners in Distress. A toast 
having been given, complimentary to his country, it 
was expected that he should address the company 
in reply. Not understanding the Eiiglish language, 
he was greatly embarrassed, and said to the Chair- 
man : " Sir, I wish you, and this Society, to con- 
' sider me a Foreigner in Distress." "So," said 
Mr. Clay, evidently much affected, " I wish you to 
' consider me a friend in distress." 

In anticipation of his return home, Mr. Clay had 
been unanimously re-elected a Member of Congress 
from the District he formerly represented. Doubts 
arising as to the legality of this election, a new ona 
was ordered, and the result was the same. 

On the fourth of December, 1815, the Fourteentli 
Congress met, in its first session. Mr. Clay was 
again elected Speaker of the House of Representa- 



Discussion of the Treaty — Re-charter of the U. S. Ban.h. 



21 



lives, almost unanimously — receiving, upon the first 
balloting, eighty-seven out of one hundred and twen- 
ty-two votes cast — thirteen being tlie highest num- 
ber given for anyone of the five opposing candi- 
dates. He was, at this time, just recovering from a 
serious indisposition, but accepted the office in a 
brief and appropriate sjicech, acknowledging the 
honor conferred upon him, and pledging his best ef- 
forts for the proper discharge of its duties. 

Among the important subjects which came up, 
that of the new Treaty was, of course, among the 
foremost. John Randolph and the Federalists, after 
having resisted the War, now took frequent occasion 
to sneer at the mode of its termination. On the 29th 
of January, 1816, Mr. Clay addressed the Commit- 
tee of the House most eloquently in reply to these 
cavilers. 

" I gave a vote,'' said he, " for the Declaration of 
' War. I exerted all the little influence and talents 
' I could command to make the War. The War 
' was made. It is tertninated. And I declare with 
' perfect sincerity, if it had been permitted to me to 
' lift the veil of futurity, and to have foreseen the 
' precise scries of events which has occurred, my 
' vote would have been unchanged. We had been 

* insulted, ana outraged, and spoliated upon by al- 
' most all Europe — by Great Britain, by France, 
' Spain, Denmark, Naples, and, to cap the climax, 
' by the little contemptible power of Algiers. We 
' had submitted too long and too much. We had 

become the scorn of foreign powers, and the deri- 
sion of our own citizens." 

It had been objected by the Opposition that no 
provision had been made in the Treaty in regard to 
the impressment of our seamen by the British. On 
ihis subject, Mr. Clay said — and his argument is as 
eonclusive as it is lofty : — " One of the great causes 

■ of the War and of its continuance was the practice 

■ of impressment exercised by Great Britain — and 
' if ihis claim had been admitted hij necessary impli- 

■ cation or express stipulation, the rights of our sea- 
' inen would have been abandoned ! It is with utter 
' astonishment that I hear it has been contended in 

* this country that, because our right of exemption 

* from the practice had not been expressly secured 

* in the Treaty, it was, therefore, given up ! It is 
' impossible that such an argument can be advanced 

* on this floor. No Member, who regarded his repu- 
' tation, would venture to advance such a doctrine !" 

In conclusion, Mr. Clay declared, on this occasion 
that his policy, in regard to the attitude in which the 
country should now be placed, was to preserve the 
present force, naval and military — to provide for the 
augmentation of the Navy — to fortify the weak and 
vulnerable points indicated by experience — to con- 
struct Military roads and canals — and, in short, " to 

COMMERCE THE GREAT WORK OF InTNRNAL IM- 
PROVEMENT." 

" t would see," he said, " a chain of turnpike 
roads and canals from Passamaquoddy to New-Or- 
leans ; and other similar roads intersecting moun- 
tains, to facilitate intercourse beiieeen all parts of 
tlie country, aitd to bind and connect us together. I 

WOULD ALSO EFFKCTUALLY PROTECT OUR MANU- 
FACTORIES. I would aftbrd them protection, not so 
much for the sake of the Manufacturers themselves 
as for the general interest." 

It was in this patriotic spirit, and impelled by this 
iar-sighted, liberal, and trulvAmerican policy, that 



Mr. Clay resumed his legislative labors in the Nation- 
al Councils. He has lived to carry out those truly 
great and Statesman-like measures of Protection and 
Intprnnl Improvement, wiiich even then began to 
gather shape and power in a mind ever active in the 
cause of his country. May he live to receive a tes- 
timonial of that country's gratitude and admiration 
in the bestowal upon him of the highest honor in her 
gift! 

CHAPTER V. 

Re-chnrter of the United StBtes T!ank— Rfr. Clay's views in 1811. 
and 1816— Scene in the Honsc uitli Itimdolph— The compen- 
sation Bill— C'anvasses his Ilislrii-t— Skirmish with Mr. Pope — 
The Old Hunter and his Rilk— Tho Irish Barber— Repeal of 
the Compensation Bill— South Ainerii-nn Independence— Inter- 
nal Improvements — Mr. Clay's Relations with Mr. Madison— 
Intention of Madison at one time to appoint him Connnander- 
in-Chief of the Army- Election of" .James Monroe — Mr. Clay 
carries his Measures in behalf of the .South American States — 
His Eloquent Appeals— His Eflbrts Succes.sful—H is Speeches 
Rend at the Head of the Soutli American Armies— Letter from 
BoHvar— and Clay's Reply. 

The financial condition of the United States at the 
close of the War was extremely depressed. The 
currency was deranged — public credit impaired — 
and a heavy debt impending. In his message, at the 
oprning of the Session of 1815-16, President Madi- 
son stated the condition of public affairs, and indi- 
cated the establishment of a National Bank and of a 
Protective Tarifi" as the two great measures of relief. 

On the eighth of January, 1816, Mr. Calhoun from 
the committee on that part of the President's Mes- 
sage, relating to the Currency, reported a bill to in- 
corporate the subscribers to a Bank of the United 
States. 

It will be remembered that Mr. Clay in 1811, while 
a member of the Senate, had opposed the re-char- 
teiing of the old Bank. His reasons for now advo- 
cating the bill before the House have been fully and 
freely communicated to the public. 

When the application was made to renew the old 
charter of the Bank of the United States, such an 
institution did not appear to him to be so necessary to 
the fulfilment of any of the objects specifically enu- 
merated in the Constitution as to justify Congress in 
assuming, by construction, power to establish it. It 
was supported mainly upon the ground that it was 
indispensable to the treasury operations. But the 
local institutions in the several States were at that 
time in prosperous existence, confided in by 
the community, having confidence in one another, 
and maintaining an intercourse and connection the 
most intimate. Many of them were actually em- 
ployed by the Treasury to aid that department in » 
part of its fiscal arrangements; and they appeared 
to him to be fully capable of afibrding to it all tlia 
facility that it ought to desire in all of them. They 
superseded in his judgment tlie necessity of a Na- 
tional Institution. 

But how stood the case in 1816, when he was called 
upon again to examine the power of the General 
Government to incorporate a National Bank ? A total 
change oi circumstances was presented. Events ol 
the utmost magnitude had intervened. A suspension 
of specie payments had taken place. The currency 
of the country was completely vitiated. The Gov- 
ernment issued paper bearing an interest of six per 
cent, which it pledged the faith of the country to re- 
deem. For this paper, guaranteed by tlie honor and 
faith of the Government, there was obtained for ev- 



22 



Life of Henry Clay, 



eiy one hundred dollars, eighty dollars from those 
banks which suspended spe<-ie payments. The 
experience of the War therefore sliowed the neces- 
sity of a Bank. The country could not get along 
without it. Mr. Clay had then changed his opinion 
on the subject, and he had never attempted to dis- 
guise the fact. In his position a? Speaker of the 
House, he might have locked up his opinion in his 
own breast. But witii that candor and fearlessness 
which have ever distinguished him, he had coine for- 
ward, as honest men ought to come forward, and 
expressed his change of opinion, at the time 
when President IMadison and other eminent men 
changed their course in relation to the Bank. 

The Constitution confers on Congress the power 
to coin Money and to regulate the value of Foreign 
Coins : and the States are prohibited to coin money, 
to emit bills of credit, or to make any thing but gold 
or silver coiu a tender in payment of debts. The 
plain inference was, that the subject of the general 
currency was intended to be submitted exclusively 
to the General Government. In point of fact, how- 
ever, the regulation of the General Currency was in 
the hands of the State Governments, or, what was the 
same thing, of the Banks created by them. Their 
paper had every quality of money, except that of 
being made a tender, and even this was imparted to 
it, by some States, in the law by which a creditor 
must receive it, or submit to a ruinous suspension 
of the payment of his debt. 

It was incumbent upon Congress to recover the 
control which it had lost over the General Currency. 
The remedy called for was one of caution and mo- 
deration, but of firmness. Whether a remedy, di- 
rectly acting upon the Banks and their paper thrown 
into circulation, was in the power of the General 
Government or not, neitlier Congress nor the com- 
munity were prepared for the application of such a 
remedy. 

An indirect remedy of a milder character seemed 
to be furnished by a National Bank. Going into 
operation with the powerful aid of the Treasury of 
the United States, Mr. Clay believed it would be 
highly instrumental in the renewal of specie pay- 
ments. Coupled with the other measure adopted 
by Congress for that object, he believed the remedy 
effectual. The local Banks must follow the exam- 
ple, which the National Bank would set them, of re- 
deeming their notes by the payment of specie, or 
their notes would be discredited and put down. 

If the Constitution, then, warranted die establish- 
ment of a Bank, other considerations, besides those 
already mentioned, strongly urged it. The want of 
a general medium was everywhere felt. Exchange 
varied continually, not only between different parts 
of the Union, but between different parts of tlie same 
City. If the paper of a National Bank were not re- 
deemed in specie, it would be mucli better than the 
current paper, since though its value, in conipari- 
8on with specie, might fluctuate, it would afford an 
uniform standard. 

During this discussion of 1816, on the Bank Char- 
ter, a collision arose between Messrs. Clay and Ran- 
dolph, which produced great sensation for the mo- 
ment, and which it was apprehended migiil lead to 
serious consequences. Although Mr. (Jluy had 
changed his own opinion in regard to a Bank, he 
did not feel authorized to seek, in private inter- 



course, to influence that of others, and observed a 
silence and reserve not usual to him, on the subject. 
Mr. Randolph conmiented on this fact, and used 
language, which might bear an offensive interpreta- 
tion. When he was done, Mr. Clay rose with per- 
fect coolness, but evidently with a firm determina- 
tion, and adverting to the offensive language, ob- 
served that it required explanation, and that he 
should forbear saying what it became him to say 
until he heard the explanation, if any, which the 
Member from Virginia had to make. He sat down. 
Mr. Randolph rose and made an explanation. Mr. 
Clay again rose, and said that the explanation was 
not satisfactory. Whereupon Mr. R. again got up 
and disclaimed expressly all intentional oftence. 

During the transaction of this scene, the most in- 
tense anxiety and the most perfect stillness perva- 
ded the House. You might have heard a pin fall 
in any part of it. 

The bill to re-charter the Bank was discussed for 
several weeks in the House. The vote was taken, 
on its third reading, on the 11th of March, 1816, 
when it was passed : 80 Ayes to 71 Nays : and sent 
to the Senate for concurrence. On the 2d of April, 
after the bill reported by the Financial Committee 
had received a full and thorough discussion, it was 
finally passed in that body by a vote of 22 to 12 — 
two ftlembers only being absent. The amendmenta 
of the Senate were speedily adopted by the House, 
and on tlie 10th of April the bill became a law, by 
the signature of the President. The wisdom of the 
supporters of the measure was soon made manifest 
in the fact, that the Institution more than realized 
the most sanguine hopes of its friends. During the 
period of its existence the United States enjojed a 
currency of unexampled purity and uniformity ; and 
the bills of the Bank were as acceptable as silver in 
every quarter of the Globe. In another part of this 
memoir will be found an outline of such a Fiscal 
Institution as Mr. Clay would be in favor of, v:hen- 
ever a majority of the people of the United States 
I/light demand the estahlishment of a National 
Bank. 

On the 6th of March, 1816, Col. Richard M.John- 
son, from a Committee appointed for the purpose, 
reported a bill changing the mode of compensation 
to Members of Congress. The pay of Members at 
that time was six dollars a day — an amount which, 
from its inadequacy, threatened to place the legis 
lation of the country in the hands of the wealthy 
The new bill gave Members a salary of fifteen hun 
dred dollars a year — to the presiding officer twice 
that amount. It passed both houses without oppo 
sition. Mr. Clay preferred the increase of the daily 
compensation to tlic institution of a salary, but the 
mnjority were against him, and he acquiesced in 
their decision. 

He never canvassed for a seat in the House of 
Representatives but on one occasion, and that was 
after the passage of this unpalatable bill. It pro- 
duced very great dissatisfaction throughout tlie Uni- 
ted States, and extended to the distrift which he 
represented. Mr. Pope, a gentleman of great abili- 
ties, was his competitor. They had several skir- 
mishes at popular mpetings, with various success ; 
but having agreed upon a general action, they met 
at Higbie, a central place and convenient of access 
to the three counties domposing the district. A vast 



The Compensation Bill. 



23 



multitude assembled; ami ilic riv-nlcaniiiJates occu- 
pied in their addresses the grcutcr part of the day. 

Instead of confining himself to a defence of the 
Compensation Bill, which he never heartily appro- 
ved in the form of an annual salary to Members of 
Congress, Mr. Clay carried the war into the enemy's 
country. He attacked flir. Pope's vote against the 
Declaration of War with Great Britain, dwelt on the 
wrongs and injuries which that power had inflicted 
on the United States, jwintcd out his inconsistency 
in opposing the War upon the ground of a want of 
preparation to prosecute it, and yet having been 
willing to declare War against both France and 
Greai Britain. Thus he put bis competitor on the 
defensive. The effect of the discussion was power- 
ful and triumphant on the side of Mr. Clay. From 
that day his success was no longer doubtful, and, 
accordingly, at the election which shortly after en- 
sued, he was chosen by a majority of six or seven 
hundred votes. 

During the canvass, Mr. Clay encountered an old 
hunter, who had always before been his warm friend, 
but was now opposed to his election on account of 
the Compensation Bill. " Have you a good rifle, my 
friend ? " asked Mr. Clay. " Yes." " Does it ever 
flash ! " " Once only," he replied. " What did you 
do with it— throw it away ?" " No, I picked the 
flint, tried it again, and brought down the game." 
" Have I ever flashed but upon the Compensation 
Bill?" "No." "Will you throw me away ?" "No, 
no ! " exclaimed the hunter, with enthusiasm, nearly 
overpowered by his feelings : " I will pick the flint, 
and try you again! " He was afterward a warm 
supporter of Mr. Clay. 

This anecdote reminds us of another, which is 
illustrative of that trait of boldness and self-posses- 
sion, in the manifestation of which Mr. Clay has 
never been known to fail during his public career. 
At the time that he was a candidate for election to the 
Legislature of Kentucky in 1803, while passing a 
few weeks at the Olympian Springs, a number of 
huntsmen, old and young, assembled to hear him 
make a "stump speech." When he had finished, 
one of the audience, an ancient Nirnrod, who had 
stood leaning upon his rifle for some time, regarding 
the young orator with keen attention, commenced a 
conversation with him. 

" Young man," said he, " you want to go to the 
Legislature, I see ? " 

"Why, yes," replied Mr. Clay, "since I have 
consented to be a candidate, I would prefer not to 
be defeated." 

" Are you a good shot ? " 

" Try me." 

" Very well ; I would like to see a specimen of 
your qualifications for the Legislature. Come : we 
must see you shoot." 

" But I have no rifle here." 

" No matter : here is old Bess ; and she never fails 
in the hands of a marksman ; she has often sent death 
tlirough a squirrel's head at one hundred yards, and 
daylight through many a red -skin twice that distance; 
if you can shoot with any gun, you can shoot with 
old Bess." 

" Well, well : put up your mark, put up your 
mark," said Mr. Clay. 

The target was placed at the distance of about 
eighty yards, when, with all the coolness and stead- 



iness of an experienced marksman, he lifted " old 
Bess " to his shoulder, fired, and pierced tlic very- 
centre of the target. 

" Oh, a chance shot! a chance shot I " exclaimed 
several of his political opponents. " He might shoot 
all day, and not hit the mark again. Let him try it 
over — let him try it over." 

" No ; beat that and then I will," retorted Mr. Clay. 
But as no one seemed disposed to make the attempt, 
it was considered that he had given satisfactory proof 
of his superiority as a marksman ; and this felicitous 
accident gained him the vote of every himter in llie 
assembly. The most remarkable feature in tlie trans- 
action remains to be told. " I had never," said Mr. 
Clay, " fired a rifle before, and never have since." 
It is needless to add that the election resulted in his 
favor. 

An Irish barber, residing in Lexington, had sup- 
ported Mr. Clay with great zeal at all elections, 
when he was a candidate, prior to the passage of 
tlie Compensation Bill. The fellow's unrestrained 
passions had frequently involved him in scrapes 
and difficulties, on which occasions Mr. Clay 
generally defended him and got him out of tliera. 
During tlie canvass, after the Compensation Bill, 
the barber was very reserved, took no part in the 
election, and seemed indifferent to its fate. He 
was often importuned to state for whom he meant 
to vote, but declined. At length, a few days before 
the election, he was addressed by Dr. W , a gen- 
tleman for whom he entertained the highest respect, 
and pressed to say to whom he meant to give his 
suffrage. Looking at the inquirer with great earn- 
estness and shrewdness, he said : " I tell you what, 
* doctliur, I mane to vote for the man tliat can put 
' but one hand into the Treasury." Mr. Pope had 
the misfortune to lose, in early life, one of his arms, 
and here lay the point of the Irishman's reply. 

It is due to the memory of Jeremiah Murphy, the 
barber, te state that he repented of his ingratitude to 
Mr. Clay, whom he met one day in the streets of 
Lexington, and, accosting him, burst into tears, and 
told him that he had wronged him ; and that his 
poor v/ife had got round him, crying and reproach- 
ing him for his conduct, saying : " Do n't you re- 
' member, Jerry, when you were in jail, Mr. Clay 

' came to you, and made that beast, William B , 

' the jailor, let you out ? " 

Having found that the sentiments of his constitu- 
ents were decidedly opposed to the Compensation 
Bill, Mr. Clay, at the ensuing session, voted for its 
repeal. A daily allowance of eight dollars to every 
Member was substituted for the salary of fifteen hun- 
dred dollars. 

During the month of February, a bill was intro- 
duced, setting apart and pledging as a fund for In- 
ternal Improvement the bonus of the United States' 
share of the dividends of the National Bank. As 
may be presumed, this measure received the hearty 
support of Mr. Clay. Without entering at lengtli 
into a discussion of the subject, he expressed a wish 
only to say that " He had long thought there were 
' no two subjects which could engage the attention 
' of the National Legislature, more worthy of its de- 
' liberate consideration than those of Internal Im- 
' provements and Domestic Manufactures." For 
Constitutional reasons, President Madison withiield 



24 



Life of Henry Clay. 



his signature from this bill, much to the surprise of 
his friends. 

During the administration of Mr. Madison, Mr. 
Clay was, on two separate occasions, offered a seat 
in his Cabinet, or the Mission to Russia, by that 
distinguished Chief Magistrate. He declined tliem 
both. Mr. Madison appears to have had the highest 
estimate of his talents and worth. Indeed, so im- 
pressed was he with the eminent and versatile abili- 
ties of Mr. Clay, that he had selected him, at the 
commencement of the War, to be Commander in 
Chief of the Army. The nomination was not made, 
solely because Mr. Clay could not be spared from 
Congress, where his powerful mind and paramount 
influence enabled him to render services superior to 
any that could have been rendered in any other po- 
sition. 

On the fourth of March, 1817, James Monroe took 
the oath prescribed by the Constitution, and entered 
upon the duties of the Presidency of the United 
States. The fust session of the Fifteenth Congress 
oommenced the ensuing December. Mr. Clay was 
again chosen Speaker. 

It would be impossible in the brief space we have 
allotted to ourselves to present even a brief abstract 
of his remarks upon the many important topics which 
now claimed the attention of Congress. We must 
content ourselves with a succinct account of the 
leading measures with which his name and his fame 
have become identified. 

i In his speech ou the state of the Union in January, 
1816, he had expressed his sympatliies in behalf of 
the South American Colonists, who were then strug- 
gling to throw off the yoke of the Mother Country. 
The Supreme Congress of the Mexican Republic 
afterwards voted him their thanks " for the disinter- 
' estcd, manly and generous sentiments he expressed 
' on the floor of the House for the welfare of tlie In- 
* fant Republic." 

In the debate on the proposition to reduce the Di- 
rect Taxation of the Country, he had alluded to the 
existing peaceful condition of the United States, and 
had hinted the possibility of hostilities with Spain. 
He had heard that the Minister of that Nation had 
demanded the surrender of a portion of our soil — that 
part of Florida lying west of the Perdido. Without 
speaking of it as it deserved — of the impudence of 
such a demand— he alluded to it as indicative of the 
disposition of the Spanish Government. " Besides," 
said he, " who can tell with certainty how far it may 
' be proper to aid the people of South America in the 
' establishment of their Independence ? " The sub- 
ject, he avowed, had made a deep impression on his 
mind ; and he was not in favor of exhausting, by di- 
rect taxes, the country of those funds which might 
be needed to vindicate its rights at home, or, if ne- 
cessary, to aid the cause of Liberty in South Ame- 
rica. 

These remarks aroused all the spleen of Mr. Ran- 
dolph. " As for South America," said he, in his re- 
ply to Mr. Clay, " I am not going a-tilting for the 
' liberties of her People ; they came not to our aid ; 
' let us mind our own business, and not tax our Peo- 
'ple for the liberties of the People of Spanish Ame- 
*rica." He went on to ridicule the notion that the 
People of Caraccas and Mexico were capable cither 
of enjoying or of understanding liberty and insinu- 
fcted tliat Mr. Clay was influenced by a desire of 



conquest. "The honorable gentleman," he saiif 
'• had been sent on a late occasion to Europe ; he 
' had been near the field of Waterloo, and, he feared, 
' had snufifed the carnage and caught the infection.'''' 
" What!" said he, " increase our Standing Army in 
' time of peace, on the suggestion diat we are to go 
' on a crusade to South America 1 " Mr. Clay inti- 
mated that he had advocated no such measure. — 
" Do I not understand the gentleman ? " said Mr. 
Randolph ; " I am sorry I do not ; I labor under two 
' great misfortunes — one is that I can never under- 
' stand the honorable Speaker — the other is that he 
' can never understand me : on such terms, an argu- 
' ment can never be maintained between us, and I 
' shall, therefore, put an end to it." Mr. Clay sim- 
ply expressed his surprise that he could so hava 
misunderstood his remarks, and deferred the general 
argument to another occasion. 

Soon after, on a proposition to " prevent our citi- 
zens from selling vessels of war to a foreign power," 
Mr. Clay opposed the bill, on account of its evident 
bearing upon the question of South American Inde- 
pendence ; it would every where be understood as a 
law framed expressly to prevent the offer of the 
slightest aid to these Republics by our citizens. — 
" With respect to the nature of their struggle," he 
said, " I have not now, for the first time, to express 
' my opinion and wishes. I wish them Independ- 
' ence. It is the first step towards improving their 
' condition." 

During the summer of 1816, the President had ap- 
pointed Messrs. Rodney, Graham and Bland, Com- 
missioners to proceed to South America, to ascertain 
the condition of the country. In March, 1818, the 
Appropriation Bill being before the House, Mr. Clay 
objected to the clause appropriating $30,000 for their 
compensation, as unconstitutional. He then offered 
an amendment, appropriating eighteen thousand 
dollars as the outfit and one year's salary of a Min- 
ister, to be deputed from the United States to the 
Independent Provinces of the River La Plata, in 
South America. The amendment was lost ; but Mr. 
Clay's speech in support of it was one of his most 
memorable efforts. Both Congress and the Presi- 
dent were opposed to any recognition of the Inde- 
pendence of the South American Colonists. In 
rising to promulgate views hostile to theirs, Mr. 
Clay said that, much as he valued those friends, in 
and out of the House, from whom he diliered, he 
could not hesitate when reduced to the distressing 
alternative of conforming his judgment to theirs, or 
pursuing the deliberate and matured dictates of hia 
own mind. 

He maintained that an oppressed People were an- 
thorized, whenever they could, to rise and break 
their fetters. This was the great principle of the 
English Revolution. It was the great principle of 
our own. Vattel, if authority were wanting, ex 
pressly supports this right. 

Mr. Clay said he was no propagandist. He would 
not seek to force upon other nations our principles 
and our liberty, if they did not want them. He 
would not disturb the repose even of a defrstable 
despotism. But, if an abused and oppressed People 
willed their freedom; if they sought to establish it; 
if, in truth, they had established it, we hud a right, 
as a sovereign power, to notice the fact, and to act 
as circurastances and our interest required. 



South American Independence 



2& 



The Opposition had argued that the People of 
Spanish America were too ignorant and supersti- 
tious to appreciate and conduct an independent and 
free system of Government. We believe it is Mac- 
aulay, who says of this plea of ignorance as an ar- 
gument against emancipation, that with just as 
much propriety might you argue against a person's 
going into the water until he knew how to swim. — 
Mr. Clay denied tho alleged fact of the ignorance of 
the Colonists. 

With regard to their superstition, he said : " They 
' worshipped the same God with us. Their prayers 
' were oflered up in their temples to the same Re- 
'deemer, whose intercession we expected to save us. 
' Nor was there anything in the Catholic religion 
' unfavorable to freedom. All religions united with 
' government were more or less inimical to liberty. 
' Vll separated from government were compatible 
' with liberty." 

Having shown that the cause of the South Amer- 
ican patriots was just, Mr. Clay proceeded to inquire 
what course of policy it became us to adopt. He 
maintained that a recognition of their independence 
was compatible with perfect neutrality and with the 
most pacific relations toward old Spain. Recogni- 
tion alone, without aid, was no just cause of war. 
With aid, it was ; not because of the recognition, but 
because of the aid, as aid, without recognition, was 
cause of war. 

After demonstrating that the United States were 
bound, on their own principles, to acknowledge the 
Independence of the United Provinces of the river 
Plate, he alluded to the improbability that any of 
the European Blonarchies would set the example of 
recognition. " Are we not bound," he asked," upon 
' our own principles, to acknowledge this new rcpub- 
Mic ? If WE do not, who will ! " 

The simple words, ^^ who icill? " are said, by an 
intelligent observer, who was present, to have been 
littered in a tone of such thrilling pathos as to stir 
the deepest sensibilities of the audience. It is by 
such apparently simple appeals that Mr. Clay, with 
the aid of his exquisitely modulated voice, often pro- 
duces the most powerful and lasting effects. 

We shall not attempt to present a summary of 
this magnificent address. " No abstract," says one 
who heard it, " can furnish an adequate idea of a 
' speech, which, as an example of argumentative ora- 
' tory, may be safely tritd by the test of the most ap- 
' proved models of any age or country. Rich in all 
' tlie learning connected with the subject ; method- 
' ized in an order which kept that subject constantly 
' before the hearer, and enabled the meanest capac- 
' ity to follow the speaker without effort, through a 
' long series of topics, principal and subsidiary ; at 
' once breathing sentiments of generous philanthropy 
' and teaching lessons of wisdom; presenting a va- 
' riety of illustrations which strengthened the doc- 
' trines that they embellished ; and uttering prophe- 
' cies, on which, though rejected by the infidelity of 
' the day, time has stamped the seal of truth : this 
♦ speech will descend to the latest posterity and re- 
' main embalmed in the praises of mankind, long 
' after the tumults of military ambition and the plots 
' of political profligacy have passed into oblivion." 

After repeated efforts and repeated failures to car- 
ry his generous measures in behalf of South Amer- 
ican Liberty, Mr. Clay, on the tenth of February 



1821, submitted for consideration a resolution de- 
claring that the House of Representatives participa- 
ted with the people of the United States, in the deep 
interest which they felt for the success of tho Span- 
ish Provinces of South America, whicli were strug- 
gling to establish their liberty and independence; 
and that it would give its constituiioiuil support to 
the President of the United States, whenever he 
might deem it expedient to recognize the sovereign- 
ty and independence of those Provinces. 

On this resolution, a debate of nearly four hours 
ensued, m which Mr. Clay sustained the principal 
part. Only twelve Members voted against the first 
clause of it; and on the second, the votes were 
eighty-seven for, and sixty-eight against it. The 
question was then taken on the resolution as a whole, 
and carried in the affirmative ; and ]\Ir. Clay imme- 
diately moved that a Committee of two Members 
should be appointed, to present it to President Mon- 
roe. Although such a course was not very usual,, 
a Committee was accordingly ordered, and Mr. Clay 
was appointed its Chairman. It was agreat triumph. 
He had been long and ardently engaged in the cause, 
and, during a greater part of the time, opposed by 
the whole weight of Mr. Monroe's administration. 
And when he was appointed Chairman of the Com- 
mittee, to present the resolution, Mr. Monroe's friends 
regarded it as a personal insult, and Mr. Nelson, of 
Virgina, one of the warmest of them, retired from the 
Capitol, after the adjournment of the House, de- 
nouncing the act in the loudest tones of his remark- 
able voice, on his way down the Pennsylvania Ave- 
nue, as an unprecedented indignity to the Chief Ma- 
gistrate. 

On the 8th day of March, 1822, the President sent 
a Message to the House of Representatives, recom- 
mending the recognition of South American Inde- 
pendence. The recommendation v/as referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Relations, which, on the 
19th of the same month, reported in favor of the 
recommendation, and of an appropriation to carry it 
into effect. The vote of recognition was finally 
passed on the 28th, with but a single dissenting voice. 

Such is a brief sketch of Mr. Clay's magnani- 
mous efforts in behalf of South American Indepen ■ 
dence. His zeal in the cause was unalloyed by one 
selfish impulse or one personal aim. He could hope 
to gain no political capital by his course. He up- 
pealed to no sectional interest; sustained no party 
policy ; labored for no wealthy client ; secured the 
influence of no man, or set of men, in his champion- 
ship of a remote, unfriended and powerless people. 
Congress and the President were vehemently op- 
posed to his proposition. But in the fa^e of dis- 
comfiture, he persevered till he succeeded in making 
converts of his opponents, and in effecting the 
triumph of his measure. Almost single-handed, he 
sustained it through discouragement and hostility, 
till it was crowned with success. 

The efllect of his spirit-stirring appeals in cheering 
the patriots of South America, was most gratifying 
and decided. His memorable plea of March. 1818, 
was, as one of his most embittered adversaries has 
told us, read at the head of the South American Ar- 
mies, to exalt their enthusiasm in battle, and quick- 
en the consummation of their triumphs. 

The following letter from Bolivar, with Mr. Clay's 
reply, belongs to this period of his history : 



26 



Life xif Henry Clay. 



KocoTA, 2]5t November, 1827. 

"Sir: I cannot omit availing myself of ilio op- 
portunity otilcrf d me iiy the de|iiii tui-eofCo]. Walts, 
Charge d'Affairos of the I'liitcd Stuies, of tiikingthc 
liberty of addressing your Fxcellency. 'I'his de- 
sire has lun£c bieu entertained by me for the purpose 
of expressing my adniiriUion of your Excellency's 
brilliant talents and ardent Icive of liberty. All 
America, Columbiu, and myself owe your Excel- 
lency our purest gratitu(it> for the incomparable 
services you have rendered to us, by sustaining our 
course with a sublime enthusiasm. Accept, there- 
fore, this sincere and cordial testimony, which 
I hasten to offer to your excellency, and to the Go- 
Ternuient of the United States, who have .so greatly 
contributed to the emancipation of your Southern 
brethren. 

" I have the honor to offer to your Excellency mv 
distinguished consideration. 

" Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

"BOLIVAR." 

The following is a characteristic extract from Mr. 
Clay's Reply : 

" Washington, 37tli October, 1828. 

"Sir: It is very graiilying to me to be assured 
directly by your Excellency, that the course w hich 
the Government of the United States took on this 
vnemorable occasion, and my humble efforts, have 
excited the gratitude and commanded the approba- 
tion of your Excellency. I am persuaded that I do 
rot misinterpret the feelings of the peojjle of the 
I'nited States, as I certainly express my own, in 
saying, that the interest which was inspired in this 
country by tlie arduous struggles of South Ameri- 
ca, arose principally from the hope^ that, aloiiff uith. 
its Iiidependeiice,would be established Free Institu- 
tions, insuring all the blessings of Civil Liberty. 
To the accomplishment of thiU object u-e still anx- 
iously look. We are aware thai great difficulties 
oppose it, among which, not the least, is that which 
arises out of the existence of a large military force, 
raised for the purpose of resisting the power of 
Spain. Standing armies, organized with the most 
patriotic intentions, arc dangerous instruments. — 
They devour the substance, debauch the morals, 
and too often destroy the liberties of the people, 
nothing can be more perilous or unwise than to re- 
tain them after the necessity has ceased, which led 
to their formation, especially if their numbers are 
diflproportionate to the revenues of the State. 

"But, notwithstanding all these difficulties, we 
had fondly cherished, and still indulge the hope, 
that South America would add a new triumph to 
the cause of Human Liberty ; and, that Providence 
would bless her, as He had her Northern sister, w ith 
the genius of some great and virtuous man, to con- 
duct her securely tlirough all her trials. We had 
even flattered ourselves, that we beheld that genius 
in your excellency. But I should be unworthy of 
the consideration with which your Excellency 
honors me, and deviate from the frankness whichi 
have ever endeavored to practice, j// rfVd noi, on 
this occasion, state, that ambitious designs have 
been attributed by your enemies to your Excellency 
which have created in my mind great solicitude. 
'i'hey have cited late events in Colombia as proofs 
of theie designs. But slow in the withdrawal of 
confidence, vr-hich I have once given, I have been 
most unwilling to credit the unfavorable ac- 
counts which have from time to time reached me. 
I cannot allow myself to believe, ihat your Excel- 
lency will abandon the bright and glorious path 
which lies plainly before you, for the bloody road 
passing over the liberties of the human race, on 
which the vulgar crowds of tyrants and military 
ilespots have to often trodden. I will not doubt, 
Ihat your Excellency will, in due time, render a 
satisfactiiry explanation to Colombia and the world, 
o( the parts of your [lublic nondnct which have ex- 
cited any distrust ; and lliat, preferring the true 



glory of our immortal Washington to the ignoble 
lame of the destroyers ol Liberty, you have formed 
the patriotic resolution of ultii'nately pkiciug the 
freedom of Colombia upon a firm and sure foun- 
dation. That your tfibrls to that end may be 
crowned with complete success, I most lervently 
pr'ay. 

" I request that your Exellency will accept assu- 
rances of my sincere wishes for your happiness and 
prosperity. II. CLAY." 

The disinterestedness of Mr. Clay's motives, in hi.s 
course toward the South American Republics, was 
forcibly displayed in his frank and open appeal to 
Bolivar. Had his object been to acquire inlluence. 
and populariij' among the people of those countries, 
he would hardly have addressed such plain re- 
proaches and unpalatable truths to a Chief who was 
all powerful with them at the time. But in a cause 
where the freedom of any portion of mankind was 
implicated, Mr. Clay was never known to hesitate, 
to reckon his own interests, or to weigh the conse- 
quences to himself from an avowal of his own 
opinions. On all subjects, indeed, he is far above 
disguise ; and though he may sometimes incur the 
charge of indiscretion by his uncalculating candor 
and fearless transiucency of sentiment, die trait is 
one which claims for him our affection and confi- 
dence. Independent in his opinions as in his actions, 
no suggestion of self-interest could ever interpose an 
obstacle to the bold and magnanimous utterance of 
the former, or to the conscientious discharge of the 
latter. 



CHAPTER VL 

Internal Improvement— Mr. Monroe's Constitutional Objec- 
tions — Mr. Clny replies to tliem — ("Congress adopts bis I'rinci- 
pies— Tlie_ Cumberland Road— Anecdote— Monument — Uis- 
rusjion of General Jackson's conduct in tbe Seminole Cnm- 
paijn- Mr. ('loy's Opinions of that ('bitftain in 1819— A 
Proplietic Glimpse — Mr. Adams and (Jeneral Jackson— Tlie 
Father of tbe American System— I!ill to regulate Duties. 
&c.— Mr. Clay's Speech in behalf of the Protective Policy — 
His (;reat Speech of 1824— Pawage of tbe Tariff Bill— KesulU 
of bis Poli(> — Voice of the ( 'ountry— His unremitted Exet 
tions— Kaudolph's Sarcasms— Anecdote. 

We have seen that from an early period Mr. Clay 
was an advocate of the doctrine of Internal Improve- 
ment. His Speech in Congress in 180G had been in 
vindication of the policy authorizing the erection of 
a bridge across the Potomac River. In the passages 
we have quoted from his Speech of January, 1816, 
he declared himself in favor not only of a system of 
International Improvement, but of Protection to our 
Manufactures. 

It will be remembered that the bill appropriating 
for purposes of Internal Improvement the bonus 
which was to be paid by the Bank of the L^nit.ed 
Stales to the General Government, after having 
been passed by Congress, had been returned by 
President flladison without his .signature, in conse- 
quence of Constitutional objections to the bill. Mr. 
Clay had been much surprised at this act ; for Mr. 
Madison, in one of his Messages, had said : — " I 
' particularly invite again the attention of Congress 
' to the exjiediency of exercising their existing 
' powers, and, where necessary, of resorting to tli,; 
' prescribed mode of enlarging them, in order to 
' effectuate a comprehensive system of Roads and 
' Canals, such- as will have the efi'ect of drawing 
' more closely together every part of our Country, 
i by promoting intercourse and improvcmeuts, and 



Jnlernal Improvements — Remarks on Gen. Jackson's Conduct in Florida. 



27 



* by increasiii!^ the share of every part in the com- 

* mou stock of national prosperity." 

Mr. Monroe, in anticipation of ihe action of Con- 
gress, had expressed an opinion in liis Message 
opposed to the right of Congress to estabiisli a 
system of International Improvement. Mr. Jeflcr- 
son's authority was also cited to show that, under 
the Constitution, Roads and Canals could not be 
constructed by the General Government without 
the consent of the State or States through which 
they v^•ere to pass. Thus three successive Presi- 
dents had opposed the proposition. 

Against lliis weight of precedent, Mr. Clay un- 
dertook to persuade Uongre.«s of their jiower under 
the Constitution to appropriate money for the con- 
struction of Militar}' Roads, Post Roads and Canals. 
A Resolution, embodying a clause to this effect, came 
before the House in March, 1818 ; and he lent to it 
his unreniiiting advocacy. 

In regard to the Constitutionality of the proposed 
measure, he contended that the power to constnut 
Post Roads is expressly granted in the power to 
ESTABLISH Fost Roads. With respect to Military 
Roads, the concession that they might be made 
when called for by the emergency, was admitting 
that the Constitution conveyed the power. " And 
* we may siifely appeal," said Mr. Clay, " to the 
'judgment of die candid and enlightened to decide 
' between the wisdom of those two constructions, 
' of which one requires you to wait for the exercise 
' of your power until the arrival of an emergency 
' which may not allow you to exert it ; and the 
' other, without denying you the power, if you can 
'exercise^it during the emergency, claims the right 
•of p.'oviding beforehand against the emergency.' 
Mr. Clay's motion, recognizing in Congress the 
Constitutional power to make appropriations for 
Internal Lnprovements. was finally carried by a 
vote of 90 to 75. The victory was a most signal 
one, obtained, as it was, over the transmitted preju- 
dices of two previous Administrations, and the 
active opposition of the one in power. 

From that period to his final retirement from the 
Senate he was the ever-vigilant and persevering 
advocate of Internal Improvements. He was the 
father of the System, and has ever been its most 
efficitnt upholder. On the 16th of January, 1824, 
he addressed the House upon a bill authorizing the 
President to effect certain surveys and estimates of 
Roads and Canals. 

The opponents of the system, including President 
Monroe, had claimed that, in respect to post-roads, 
the General Government had no other authority than 
to use such as had been previously established by 
the States. They asserted that to repair such roads 
was not within the Constitutional power of Govern- 
ment. Mr. Monroe gave his direct sanction to this 
doctrine, maintaining that the States were at full 
liberty to alter, and of course to shut up, post-roads 
at pleasure. 

" Is it possible," asked Mr. Clay, " that this con- 
' struction of tlie Constitution can be correct — a 
'construction which allows a law of the United j 
' States, enacted for the good of the whole, to be ob- 
' structed or defeated in its operation by a County 
' Court in any one of the twentv-four Sovereign- 
'ties?" 
To Mr. Clay's strenuous and persevering exertions 



for the continuance of the great Cumberland Road 
across the Alleglianies, the records of Congress wil . 
bear ample and constantly recurring testimony. He 
himself has said : — " We have had to beg, entreat, 
' supplicate you, session after session, to graut the 
' necessary ni)propriations to complete the Road. 1 
' have myself toiled until my powers have been ex 
' hausted and prostrated, to prevail on you to make 
' the grant." His courageous efforts were at length 
rewarded ; and to him wo are indebted for the most 
magnificent road in the United States. 

At a dinner given to him a i'tw years since by the 
mechanics of Wheeling, Mr. Clay spoke warmly, 
and with something like a parental leeling, of this 
Road— expressing a wish that it might be retained, 
improved and extended by the Nation. He illustra- 
ted its importance by observing that, before it was 
made, he and his family had expended a whole day 
of toilsome and fatiguing travel to pass the distance 
of about nine miles, from Uniontown to Freeman's, 
on the sunmiit of Laurel Hill ; adding that eighty 
miles over that and other mountains were now made 
in one day by the public stage. He said that the 
Road was the only comfortable pass across the 
mountains, and that he would not consent to give it 
up to the keeping of the States through which it 
happened to run. The People of nine States might 
thus be interfered with in their communication witli 
the rest of the Union. 

The country has not been wholly unmindful of 
Mr. Clay's pre-eminent services in behalf of this be- 
neficent measure. On the Cumberland Road stands 
a Monument of stone, surmounted by the Genius of 
Liberty, and bearing as an inscription the name of 
" Henry Clay." 

During the second session of the Fifteenth Con- 
gress, in January, 1819, the subject of Gen. Andrew 
Jackson's conduct in his celebrated Florida cam- 
paign came up for discussion. That Chieftain, after 
subjecting the vanquished Indians to conditions the 
most cruel and impracticable, had hung two prison- 
ers of war, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, and concluded 
his series of outrages by lawlessly seizing tlie Spa- 
nish posts of St. Marks and Pensacola. 

Committees of the Senate and of the House made 
reports reprobatory of his conduct; and resolutions 
were presented, containing four propositions. The 
first asserted the disapprobation of the House of the 
proceedings in the trial and execution of Arbuthnot 
and Ambrister. The second contemplated the pas- 
sage of a law to prevent the execution hereafter of 
any captive taken by the Army, without the appro- 
bation of the President. The third proposition was 
expressive of the disapproval of the forcible seizure 
of the Spanish posts, as contrary to orders, and in 
violation of the Constitution. The fourth proposi- 
tion was that a law should pass to prohibit the march 
of the Army of the United States, or any corps of it, 
into any foreign territory, without the previous au- 
thorization of Congress, except it were in fresh pur- 
suit of a defeated enemy. 

We will not attempt an abstract of Mr. Clay's elo- 
quent and argumentative S])eech* in support of 
these propositions. Far less disposed are we to re- 



* Seethe " Life and Speeches of Henry Cluy. Two vols. 8v«. 
With Engravings. New-York; Greeley & McElrath, Tribun« 
Buildings." These two capacious volumes are alforded at Ooi 
Dollar— a miracle of cheapness 



28 



Life of Henry Clay. 



peat the discreditable history of the wrongs and usur- 
pations perpetrated by Gen. Juckson. It inny be 
proper to state, however, that Mr. Clay, grateful for 
the public services of the General, treated him with 
a forbearance and kindness which rendered the sin- 
cerity of his animadversions the more obvious. — 
" With respect to the purity of his intentions," said 
Mr. Clay, " 1 am disposed to allow it in the most ex- 
' tensive degree. Of his acts it is my duty to speak 
' with the freedom which belongs to my station." 

Tlie Sjieaker then proceeded to expose, in a most 
lorciblc point of view, the dangerous and arbitrary 
character of those acts, and the Constitutional vio- 
lations of which Gen. Jackson had been guilty.^ 
There are many passages in this speech which, when 
we regard them in connection with the subsequent 
Presidential usurpations of the same Military Chief- 
tain, seem truly like prophetic glimpses. Take, for 
example, the concluding paragraph : 

" Gentlemen may bear down all opposition ; they 
may even vote the "General the public thanks ; they 
may carry him triumphantly through this House. 
But, if they do, in my humble judgment it irid be a 
triumph of the principle of insuhordinaiioii — a tri- 
nnipli of the Military over the Civil authority — a tri- 
umph over the powers of this House — a "triumph 
over the Constitution of the land. And I pray most 
devoutly to Heaven that it may not prove, in its ul- 
timate effects, a triumph over the liberties of the 
People." 

Even at that distant day, Mr. Clay saw in the con- 
duct of General .Tackson the indications of that im- 
perious will — of that spirit of insubordination — 
which, dangerous as they were in a Military Com- 
mander, were not less pernicious and alarming in a 
Civil Chief Magistrate. With his keen, instinctive 
faculty of penetration, he discovered the despotic 
and impulsive character of the man. Every page of 
his speech on the Seminole campaign furnishes ev- 
idence of this fact. 

How, then, when the question was presented to 
him of deciding between the qualifications of John 
Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson for the Presi- 
dency of the United States — how could Henry Clay, 
as a consistent and honorable man, hesitate for a 
moment in his choice ? And yet an amount of oblo- 
quy and vituperation, such as never before was 
heaped upon a public servant, has been lavished on 
him because of his refusing to vote for General Jack- 
son on that occasion I Had he done so, he would 
have been false to his past professions and convic- 
tions — false to conscience, to patriotism, and the 
])lainest dictates of duty. 

The resolutions of censure, being strenuously oji- 
poscd by Mr. Monroe and his cabinet, were lost in 
tl>e House by a small majority. The dispassionate 
judgment of posterity will inevitably accord with 
the views so eloquently expressed by Mr. Clay in 
regard to General Ja(;kson's conduct in Florida. 

We come now to one of the most important epochs 
in Mr. Clay's public history. In the opinion of a 
large portion of tbi; people of the United States, it 
is to his long-continued, arduous and triumphant 
efforts in the cause of Protection to American Indus- 
try and skill, that he will be indebted i\n- his 
highest and most enduring fame. We have seen 
that as far back as liJlO, he laid the foundation-stone 
of that great and beneficent American System, of 
which he was the originator and the architect. 



To specify and describe all his labors in the es- 
tablishment and advancement of hia noble policy, 
from that time to the period of his retirement from 
the Senate, would alone fill more space than wccan 
give to his whole life. The journals of Congress 
and the political newspapers of the country for the 
last thirty years will be found to be occupied to no 
inconsiderable extent with the record of his efiforta 
and arguments and untiring appeals. We can pre- 
sent hut a very imperfect outline of his glorious 
though peaceful achievements in the cause of human 
industry, labor and prosperity. 

On the twelfth of March, 181G, Mr. Lowndes, of 
South Carolina, from the Committee of Ways and 
Means, introduced before the House a bill " to Reg- 
ulate the Duties on Imports and Tonnage, &,c." The 
bill was avowedly favorable to a Tariff of Pro- 
tection ; and, strange as the record may seem, one 
of its most ardent supporters was John C. Calhoun. 
The whole question was debated with reference to 
the Protective policy. It was thoroughly discussed 
in Committee of the Whole ; and, through the exer- 
tions of Mr. Clay, a higher duty was adopted for the 
important article of woolens. The amendment, how- 
ever, was unfortunately lost in the House; but the 
bill, such as it was, was passed. 

In the spring of 1820, the subject of a Tariff again 
came before Congress ; and Mr. Clay made a most 
interesting and impressive speech in favor of Pro- 
tective Duties. " I frankly own," said he on this 
occasion, " that I feel great solicitude for the success 
of this bill. The entire independence of my country 
on all foreign States, as it respects a supply of 
our essential wants, has ever been with me a favor- 
ite object. The War of our Revolution effected our 
political emancipation. The Last War contributed 
greatly towards accomplishing our commercial free- 
dom. But our complete indeperAvnce u-ill only he 
consummated after the policy of this bill shall be 
recognized and adopted. We have indeed great 
difliculties to conteml with ; old habits — colonial 
usages — the enormous profits of a foreign trade, 
prosecuted under favorable circumstances, which no 
longer continue. I will not despair. The cause, I 
verily believe, is the cause of the country. It may 
be postponed ; it may be frustrated for the moment, 
but it finally umst prevail." And it was postponed ; 
it was frustrated for the moment; but it finally did 
prevail. 

The Tariff was remodelled by the House, but their 
bill was rejected by the Senate. 

In 1823, the health of Mr. Clay was very poor — so 
much so, that his life was despaired of both by his 
friends and himself. He had attended the Olympian 
Springs in Kentucky, in the summer, had been 
placed under a strict regimen and subjected to a long 
course of medicine. In spite of all n-medies he 
fella gradual decline, and looked forward to a speedy 
dissolution. In November he was to start for Wash- 
ington, and fully anticijmted that, after reaching 
that city, if ho reached it at ull,he should be obliged 
to hasten to the South as a last resort. He procured 
a small travelling carriage and a saddle-horse — 
threw aside all the prescriptions of tlie physician, 
and commenced his journey. Daily he walked on 
foot, drove in his carriage and rode on horseback. 
He arrived at Wasliington quite well, was elected 
Speaker, and went through more labor than he ever 



Results of the American Stjstem. 



39 



pprformed in the same Session, excepting, perhaps, 
the Extra Session of 1841. i 

The condition of the country in 1824 was far from 
proJiieroua. The amount of our exports hud dimin- 
ished to an alarming degree, while our imports of 
foreign goods had greatly increased. The country 
«vas thus drained of its Currency ; and its Commerce 
was crippled. Nor was there any home-market for 
the staple productions of our soil. Both cotton- 
planters and wool growers shared in the general 
prostration ; and even tlie Farmer had to sell his 
produce it a loss, or keep it on hand till it was 
ruined. Labor could with difficulty find employ- 
ment ; and its wages were hardly sufficient to sup- 
ply the bare necessities of life. Money could only 
be procured at enormous sacniices. Distress and 
Bankruptcy pei-vaded every class of the commu- 
nity. 

In January, 182 1, a Tariflf Bill was reported by 
the Committee on Manufactures of the House : and 
in March following, Mr. Clay made his great and 
ever memorable Speecli in the House, in support of 
American Industry. Many of our readers will vividly 
remember the deplorable state of the country at 
that time. It is impressively portrayed in his ex- 
ordium on this occasion. 

The CAUSE of the wide-spread distress, which ex- 
isted, he maintained was to be found in the fact that, 
during almost the whole existence of this Govern- 
ment, we had shaped our industry, our navigation 
and our commerce in reference to an extraordinary 
market in Europe, and to foreign markets, which 
no longer existed ; in the fact that we had depended 
too much upon foreign sources of supply, and ex- 
cited too little the native. 

On this occasion, Mr. Webster, whose views upon 
the subject afterwards underwent an entire change, 
opposed the bill with the whole powerful weight 
of his talents and legal profundity. Mr. Clay took 
up one by one the objections of the opposition, la- 
boriously examined and confuted them. For speci- 
mens of pure and strongly-linked argument, the an- 
nals of Congress exhibit no speech superior to that 
of March, 1824. In amplitude and variety of facts, 
in force and earnestness of language, and cogency 
of appeal to the reason and patriotism of Congress 
and the people, it has been rarely equalled. It would 
have been surprising indeed, if, notwithstanding the 
strongly arrayed opposition, such a speech had 
failed in overcoming it. Expcrfence has amply 
proved the validity and justice of its arguments. Its 
prophecies have been all fulfilled. 

The Tarifl' Bill finally passed the House, the 
16th of April, 1824, by a vote of 107 to 102. It soon 
afterwards became a law. 

We will leave it to Mr. Clay himself to describe 
the results of his policy, eight years after it had been 
adopted as the policy of the country. After recall- 
ing the gloomy picture he had presented in 1824, he 
said : " I have now to perform the more pleasing 
'task of exhibiting an imperfect sketch of the exist- 

• ing state — of the unparalleled prosperity of the 
' country. On a general survey, we behold cultiva- 
■* tion extending, the aits flourishing, the face of the 
' country improved, our people fully and profitably 

* emidoyed, and the public countenance exhibiting 
' tranquility, contentment and happiness. And, if we 
' descend into particulars we hayo the agreeable^ con- 



'templution of a people out of debt; land rising 
' slowly in value, but in a secure and salutary de- 
' gree ; a ready though not extravagant market for 
'all the surplus productions of our industry; innu- 
'merablc flocks and herds browsing and gamboling 
' on ten tliousand hills and plains, covered with rich 
' and verdant grasses ; our cities expanded, and 
' whole villages springing up, as it were, by ciichont- 
' ment ; our exports and imports increased and in- 
' creasing, our tonnage, foreign and coastwise, swcl- 
' ling and fully occupied ;_ the rivers of our interior 
' animated by the thunder and lightning of countless 
' steamboats ; the currency sound and abundant ; the 
' public debt of two wars nearly redeemed ; and, 
'to crown all, the public Treasury overflowing, em- 
' barrassing Congress, not to find subjects of taxa- 
' tion, but to select the objects which shall be re- 
' lieved from the impost. If the term of seven years 
' were to be selected of the greatest prosperity which 
' this jieople have enjoyed since the establishment 
' of their present Constitution, it would be exactly 
' that period of seven years which immediately fol- 
' lowed the passage of tlie Tariff of 1824." 

Such were the consequences of the benign legisla- 
tion introduced and carried into operation by Henry 
Clay. And though the reverse of the picture was 
soon presented to us, through the violent Execu- 
tive measures of General Jackson, inflating and then 
prostrating the Currenc)', and the course afterward 
pursued, we have the satisfaction of knowing that 
Mr. Clay has never wavered in his course ; and that, 
had his warnings been regarded and his counseli^ 
taken, a far different state of tilings would, in all 
probability, have existed. 

The unanimous voice of the Country has ac- 
corded to Mr. Clay the merit of having been the fa- 
ther of the system, which has been justly called the 
American System. To his personal history belong 
the testimonials of the various State Legislatures 
and Conventions, and of the innumerable public 
meetings, in all parts of the country, which awarded 
him the praise, and tendered him the grateful uc 
knowledgements of the community. To his indi- 
vidual exertions, the manufacturing industry of tho 
United States is indebted to a degree which it isnovir 
difficult to realize. By the magic power of his elo- 
quence, the country was raised from a state of pros- 
tration and distress ; cities were called into exbt- 
ence, and the wilderness was truly made to blos- 
som like the rose. 

Mr. Clay's zealous and laborious efforts in behalf 
of the Tariff can only be appreciated by a reference 
to the Journal of the House of that period. It seems 
as if he had been called upon to battle for every 
item of the bill, inch by 'inch. The whole power of 
a large and able opposition was arrayed against 
him ; and every weapon that argument, rhetoric and 
ridicule could supply was employed. John Ran- 
dolph was, as on former occasions, an active anJ 
bitter antagonist. Once or twice he provoked Mr. 
Clay into replying to his personal taunts. " Sir," 
said Mr. C, on one occasion, "the gentleman from 
' Virginia was pleased to say that, in one point at 
' least, he coincided with me — in an humble estimate 
'of my grammatical and philological acquirements. 
' I know my deficiencies. I was born to no proud 
' patrimonial estate ; from my father I inherited only 
'infancy, ignorance, ai:d indigence. I feel my 



30 



Life of Henry Clay. 



'defects ; but, so far as my situation in early life is 
' concerned, I may, without presumption, say they 
' are more my misfortune than mvTault. But, how- 
' ever I deplore my want of ability to furnish to the 
' gentleman a better specimen of powers of verbal 
' criticism, I will venture to say, ray regret is not 
' greater than the disappointment of tliis Committee 
' as to the strength of his argument." 

The following is in a different vein. After the 
passage of the Tarifl"Bill, on the l(Jth of April, 1824, 
when the House had adjourned and the Speaker was 
stepping down from his scat, a gentleman who had 
voted with the majority, said to him, " we have 
done pretty well to-day." — "Yes," returned Mr. 
Clay, " wc made a good stand, considering we lost 
both our Feet" — alluding to Mr. Foot of Connecti- 
cut, and Mr. Foote of New-York, who both voted 
against the bill, though it was thought, some time 
before, that they would give it their support. 



CHAPTER VH. 

The Missouri Question— Mr. Clay resigns the Speakersliip— The 
Union in Dantrer — He resumes his sent in Congress — Ilnparal- 
lelerf Excitement— His compromise of the Question— Pncilioa- 
tion of Parties— Character of his Kftbrts— Proposition of John 
Randolph and some of tlie Southern Members — Interview with 
Randolph— Anecdotes— Randolph and Shelfey— Mr. Clay's Re- 
tirement from Congress— Derangement of his Private Affairs- 
Return to the House — Again chosen Speaker— Jeu D'esprit— 
iMr. Clay's Address — Independence of Greece — His Speech — 
Labors during the Session of IS'it — Reception of Ijafayette in 
the House — Welcomed by Mr. Clay — l^afayelte's Reply— La- 
yayette's wish to see Mr. Clay President— Anecdote — Mr. Clay 
and Mr. Monroe. 

DcRiNO the Session of 1820-21, the "distracting 
question," as it was tenned, of admitting Missouri 
into the Union, which had been the subject of many 
angry and tedious debates, was discussed in both 
branches of Congress. The controverted point was, 
whether she should be admitted as a Slave State. 

Slavery had been expressly excluded from Ohio, 
Indiana, and Illinois, by acts of Congress, on their 
admission into the I'nion. But that restriction was, 
by virtue of an ordinance of the former Congress, 
under the Confederation, prohibiting the introduction 
of slavery into the Northwest Territory, out of which 
tiiese States were formed. Missouri was part of the 
Louisiana Territory, purchased of France in 1803. 
And in various parts of that extensive Territory, 
slavery then existed, and had long been established. 

Louisiana had been admitted into the Union without 
any restriction of the kind proposed for Missouri. The 
States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Ala- 
bama had also been admitted as separate States pre- 
vious to this period ; and, as they were taktn from 
States in which Slavery existed, they had been made 
subject to no such restriction. It was contended 
that, on the same principle, Missouri should also be 
received, without requiring, as a condition of ad- 
mission, the exclusion of Slavery. And it was also 
insisted that it would be interfering with the inde- 
pendent character of a State to enforce any such 
restriction, wliich was manifestly a subject of regu- 
lation by the State authority. 

On the contrary, it was urged that in the old 
Status the subject was expressly settled by tlie Con- 
stitution, and Congress could not justly interfere in 
those States ; but that it was otherwise with new 
States receivcl into the Union ; in which case Con- 
gress bad the right to impose such restrictions and 



conditions as it might choose ; that it was evidently 
the intention of the old Congress not to extend 
Slavery, having prohibited its iutroduclion or exist- 
ence in new States to be formed out of the North- 
west Territory; and that Slavery was so great an 
evil, and so abhorrent to the princi])les of a free 
Government, that it should be abolished or prohib- 
ited wherever it could be Constitutionally effected. 

The discussion went on from month to month, and 
from session to session, increasing in fierceness, and 
diverging farther and farther from the prospect of an 
amicable settlement. Among the prominent advo- 
cates for excluding Slavery from ftlissouri were 
Rufus King from New-York, Otis of Massachusetts, 
Dana of Connecticut, Sergeant and Hemphill of 
Pennsylvania. Of tliose opposed to Restriction, 
were Holmes of Massachusetts, Vandyke and 
McLanc of Delaware, Pinckney of Maryland, Ran- 
dolph and Barbour of Virginia, Lowndes of South 
Carolina, Clay and Johnson of Kentucky. 

A bill for the admission of Missouri had been 
defeated during the Session of 1813-19; and the 
inflammatory subject had, during the vacation of 
Congress, given rise to incessant contention. The 
Press entered warmly into the controversy. The 
most violent pamphlets were published on both 
sides. Public meetings thundered forth their Reso- 
lutions ; and the Union seemed to be fearfully shaketj 
to its centre. It may be imagined, then, with what 
interest the next Session of Congress was looked to 
by the People. 

Many eloquent Speeches were made in the House 
upon the question. Mr. Clay spoke, at one time, 
nearly four hours against the Restriction ; but there 
remains no published sketch of his remarks. The 
vote in the House of Representatives was several 
times given for excluding Slavery ; but the Senate 
disagreed, and would not yield to the House. 

In 1820, the People of the Territory of Missouri 
proceeded to ordain and establish a Constitution of 
Govermcnt for tlie contemplated State. Among 
other provisions, it was ordained in the twenty- 
sixtli section of the Third Article, tliat it should bs 
the duty of the General Assembly, " as soon as 
' might be, to pass such laws as vete 7iecessary to 
>■ prevent free Negroes arid Mtilattoes from coming 
' to and settling in tlie State, under any pretext 
' u-hafcver." Under this Constitution a State Gov- 
ernment was organized ai.d went into operation. 

This clause, for the exclusion of free Negroes and 
Mulattoes, funned into fresh life the flame of excite- 
ment, which had been partially allayed. The whole 
country was now thrown into commotion upon the 
question of admitting Missouri. 

In the autumn of 1820, Mr. Clay, who had ex- 
perienced heavy pecuniary losses by endorsing for 
a friend, resolved to retire from Congress, and, in 
the practice of the law, devote himself to the repara- 
tion of his private aftuirs. Accordingly, at the meet- 
ing of Congress, the 13th of November, 1820, the 
Clerk having announced that a quorum waa- 
present, said that he had received a letter from 
the Hon. Henry Clay, which, with the leave of the 
House, he read as follows : 

•• I.KXINGTON, (Ky.) Octcbcr 28, 1820. 

" Sir: I will thank you to communicate to tha 
House of Representatives, that, owing to imperious 
(ircumstaoces, I shall not be able to attend upon iV 



The Missouri Question. 



31 



until al'ter the Cluistrnas holidays : and to respect- 
fully ask it to allow me to resign tlie otKce of its 
Speaker, which I have the honor to hold, and to 
eonsider this as the act of my resignation. I beg the 
House also to permit me to reiterate the expression 
of my sincere acknowledgments and unaffected grat- 
itude for the disiin|uished consideration which it 
has uniformly manitested for ine. I have the honor 
to be, (fcc. H. CLAY. 

" Thos. DonoHERTY, Esq., Clerk H. of R." 

In view of the agitating question before Congress, 
Mr. Clay consented, however, to retain his seat as 
a member of the House till his term of service ex- 
pired, although no longer its presiding oiVicer. 
Early in the session the Missouri question came up. 
Those who now opposed its admission contended, 
that free citizens and mulattoes were citizens of the 
States of their residence ; that as such, they had a 
right, under the Constitution, to remove to Missouri, 
or any other State of the Union, and there enjoy all 
the privileges and immunities of other citizens ol 
the United States emigrating to the same place; 
and, therefore, that the clause in the Constitution 
of Missouri, quoted above, was repugnant to that 
of the United States, and she ought not to be 
received into the Union. 

On the other hand, it was maintained that the 
African race, whether bond or free, were not parties 
to our Political Institutions ; that, therefore, free 
Negroes and Mulattoes were not citizens, within the 
meaning of the Constitution of the United States ; 
and that even if the Constitution of Missouri were 
repugnant to that of the United States, the latter 
was paramount, and would overrule the conflicting 
provision of the former, without the interference of 
Congress. 

Such was the perilous and portentous question 
■which now threatened a disruption of the Union. — 
In some shape or other it was presented almost daily 
and hourly to Congress; and became, at length, a 
perfect incubus upon legislation. In this state of 
things, Mr. Clay arrived in Washington, and took 
his seat in tlie House on th" sixteenth of January, 
1821. On the second of February, he submitted a 
motion to refer a Resolution of the Senate on the 
Missouri Question to a Committee of Thirteen — a 
number suggested by that of the original States of 
the Union. The motion was agreed to, and the fol 
lowing gentlemen were appointed a Committee ac- 
cordingly : 

Messrs. Clay of Ky., Eustis of Mass., Smith of 
Md., Sergeant of Pa., Lowndes of S. C, Ford of N. 
Y., Campbell of Ohio, Archer of Va., Hackley of N. 
Y., S. Moore of Pa., Cobb of Ga., Tomlinson of Ct., 
Butler of N. H. 

On the tenth of the same month, Mr. Clay made 
a report, concluding with an amendment to the Sen- 
ate's resolution, by which amendment Missouri was 
admitted upon the following fundamental condition : 

" It is provided that the said State shall never 
pass any law preventing any description of persons 
from comine to and settling in the said State, who 
now are or hereafter may become citizens of any of 
the States of this Union ; and provided also, that the 
Legislature of the said State, by a solemn public act, 
shall declare the assent of the said State to the said 
fundamental condition, and shall transmit to the Pre- 
sident of the United States, on or before the fourth 
Monday in November next, an aullientic copy of the 
said Act; upon the receipt whereof, the President, 
by proclamation, shall announce the fact ; whereup- 
on, and without any further proceedings on tlie part 



of Congress, the admission of the said State into the 
Union shall be considered as complete : And pro- 
vided, further, that nolliing herein contained shall be 
constiued to take from the State of Missouri, when 
admitted into the Union, the exercise of any right or 
power wliicii can now be constitutionally exercised 
by any of the original States." 

In defence of his report, Mr. Clay said that, al- 
though those favorable to the admission of Missouri 
could not succeed entirely in their particular views, 
yet he was of opinion that they had, as regarded the 
Report of the Committee, nothing to complain of. — 
At the same time, the Report was calculated to ob- 
viate the objections of those who had opposed the 
admission of Missouri on the ground of the objection 
to her Constitution which had been avowed. Thus 
consulting the opinions of both sides of the House, 
in that spirit of compromise which is occasionally 
necessary to the existence of all societies, he hoped 
it would receive the countenance of the House ; and 
he earnestly invoked the spirit of harmony and kin- 
dred feeling to preside over the deliberations of tlie 
House on the subject. 

The question being taken in Committee of the 
Whole on the amendment proposed by Mr. Clay, it 
was decided in the negatice by a vote of 73 to 64. — 
This decision was afterward overruled in the House. 
On the question, however, of the third reading of the 
Resolution, it was rejected, by a vote of 83 to 80, in 
consequence of the defection of Mr. Randolph of 
Virginia, who dreaded the increase of popularity 
which would accrue to Mr. Clay by the success of 
his proposition. A reconsideration was moved and 
carried the next day, and the question of the third 
reading was again brought before the House. Ano- 
ther protracted and bitter debate followed, and was 
concluded by a speech of an hour's duration from 
Mr. Clay, who is represented by the cotemporary 
journals as having " reasoned, remonstrated and en- 
treated that the House would settle the question." 

On the fourteenth of February, the two Houses of 
Congress met in the hall of the House of Represent- 
atives, to perform the ceremony of counting the votes 
for President and Vice President of the United States. 
A scene of great confusion occurred when the votes 
of the Electors lor Missouri were announced by the 
President of the Senate, and handed to the Tellers, 
The Members of the Senate withdrew, and a violent 
discussion sprang up. By the exertions of Mr. Clay, 
order was at length restored, and, on his motion, a 
Message was sent to the Senate that the House was 
ready to proceed to the completion of the business 
of counting the votes. 

The Senate again came in. The votes of Missouri 
were read, and the result of all the votes having been 
read, it was announced by the President of the Sen- 
ate, tliat the total number of votes for .lames Monroe 
as President of the United States, was 231, and, if 
the votes of Missouri were not counted was 228; 
that, in either event, James Monroe had a majority 
of the whole number of votes given. James Monroe 
was accordingly re-elected President for four years, 
commencing on the ensuing fourth of JMarch. 

While the proclamation was being made, two 
Members of the House claimed the floor to inquire 
whether the votes of Missouri were or were not 
counted. Another scene of confusion hereupon en- 
sued, and the House were finally obliged to adjourn 
in order to put an end to it 



32 



Life of Henry Clay. 



The rejection of Mr. Clay's report seemed to shut 
out all prospect of an amicable compromise. He was 
not disheartened, however. He never despaired of 
the Republic. On the twenty-second of February, 
he submitted tlie following resolution : 

" Resolved, That a Committee be appointed, on 
the part of this House, jointly with such Committee 
as may be appointed on the part of the Senate, to 
consider and report to the Senate and to the House, 
respectively whether it bo expedient or not to mnke 
provision for the admission oi Missouri into the Un- 
ion on the same footing as the original vStates, and for 
the due execution of the laws of the United States 
within Missouri ; and if not, whether any other, and 
what provision, adapted to her actual condition, 
ought to be made by law." 

This resolution was adopted in the flouse by a 
vote of 103 to 55. The Senate acceded to it by a 
large majority. 

The Joint Committees of the two Houses met on 
the twenty-fifth of February, 1821; and a plan of 
accommodation, proposed bj' Mr. Clay, was adopted, 
unanimously on the part of the Committee of the 
Senate, and nearly so by that of the House. The 
next day he reported to the House from the Com- 
mittee a resolution, which was the same in effect as 
that which we have already quoted as having been 
reported by the former Committee of thirteen Mem- 
bers. A short discussion ensued, which was checked 
by a call for the Previous Question. The resolu- 
tion was then adopted by a vote of eighty-seven to 
eighty-one. The Senate concurred, and the mo 
mentous question, which for three Sessions had ag- 
itated Congress, was, at length through the labors 
and influence of Henry Clay, peaceably settled. 

The achievement of this vital compromise must 
have been one of the most gratifying triumphs of his 
political career. By his personal influence and abil- 
ities, he had saved the Republic. He deservedly 
■won on this occasion the appropriate title of " the 
Great Pacificator;" for to hia individual exertions do 
we owe it, that we were saved from the prospect of a 
dissolution of the Union. His efibrts in and out of 
Congress were uncoasing in accomplishing his ob- 
ject. He made direct personal appeals to those whom 
he could not influence in public debate, and left no 
means untried for bringing Congress to that harmo- 
nious state, which was essential to the safety of the 
country. 

While the Missouri question was pending, and the 
excitement of the contending parties was running to 
a great and alarmuig hight, Mr. Randolph, and per- 
haps some other gentlemen of the South, conceived 
the projetc of the whole Delegation from the Slave- 
holding States, in a body, abandoning the House, 
and leaving its bui^iness to be carried on, if at all, by 
the Representatives from the other States. At that 
time, one of those conditions of no»-intercourse, 
which we have described existed between him and 
Mr. Clay ; but notwithstanding that, one night when 
the House was in session by candle-lig:ht, Mr. Clay 
being out of the Chair, Mr. Randolph approached him 
in the most courteous manner and said; "Mr. 
' Speaker, I wish you would leave the Chair. I will 
' follow you to Kentucky or any where else in the 
♦ world." 

Mr. Clay replied : " That is a very serious prop- 
osition, Mr. Randolph ; we have not time now lo 
discuss it j but li you will come into the Speaker's 



room to-morrow morning, before the House assem 
bles, we will consider it together." 

He accordingly attended there with punctuality 
They remained in earnest conversation about ao 
hour, Mr. Clay contending that it was wisest to com- 
promise ihe question, if it could be done without any 
sacrifice of principle, and Mr. Randolph insisting 
that the Slave States had the right on their side 
that matters must come to an extremity; and that 
there could be no more suitable occasion to bring 
them to that issue. They maintained their respect- 
ive opinions firmly but amicably, without coming to 
any agreement. 

When they were about separating, Mr. Clay ob- 
served to Mr. Randolph, that he would take that op- 
portunity of saying to him, that he (Mr. Randolph) 
had used exceptionable language sometimes when 
the Speaker was in the Chair and had no opportu- 
nity of replying ; and that he was often provoked 
thereat. " Well, Mr. Speaker," said Randolph, " I 
' think you sometimes neglect me; you won't listen 
' tome when I am addressinr; the chair, but turn your 
' head away, and ask for a pinch of snuff." 

Mr. Clay rejoined : " You are mistaken. I am 
' listening when I may not seem to be ; and I can | 
' repeat as much of any one of your late speeches 
' as you yourself can, good as I know your mem.ory 
' to be." 

"Well," replied Mr. Randolph, " perhaps 1 am 
' mistaken ; and suppose we shake hands and be good 
' good friends hereafter." 

" Agreed ! " said Mr. Ciay. 

They shook hands accordingly ; and never spokf! 
with each other during the residue of the Session. 
It was about the period of Commodore Decatur's 
death. That event greatly excited Mr. Randolph , 
and Mr. Clay was informed by two difierent gentle- 
men (the late Governor Edwards and Gen. C. F. 
Mercer) about the same time, without concert, and 
shortly after the interview detcribed above, that they 
knew tliat Mr. Randolph desired a duel, and with 
him (Mr. Clay.) He thanked them for the commu- 
nication ; which was made from friendly motives. 
It naturally put him upon his guard, and on first 
meeting Mr. R., thinking that he saw something un- 
friendly in his deportment, they passed each other 
without speaking. 

Shortly before the interview above-mentioned, Mr. 
Randolph came to Mr. Clay with an insulting letter 
containing a threat to horsewhip him (Mr. R.) 
and asked what he should do with it — should he 
communicate it to the House as a breach of privi- 
lege ? " How came the writer to address such a let- 
ter to you 1 " asked Mr. Clay. " Why, sir," said he, 
"I was in the vestibule of the House the other day 
and he brought up a man and introduced him tome. 
I asked him, what right he liad to introduce that 
man to me, and told him that the man had just as 
nmch right to introduce him to me. And he said he 
thought it was an act of great impertinence. It was 
for that cause he has written me this threatening 
letter." Mr. Clay asked him if he thought the man's 
mind was perfectly sound. " Why," replied Ran- 
dolph, " I have some doubts about that." " If that 
be the case," said Mr. Clay. " would you not better 
avoid troubling the House about the affair? And I 
will give orders to the oflicers of the House to keep 
an eye on tlie man, and if he should attempt to da 



jinecdotes of Randolph—Mr. Clay before t he Vir ginia Housey Delegates.^ 



33 



anything improper to arrest him." Mr. Randolph 
said, it was perhaps the best course; and nothing 
more was heard of tlie matter. 

On one occasion during the agitation of this same 
Missouri question, Mr. Randolph told Mr. Clay, that 
he had resolved, by the advice of Chief Justice Mar- 
shall, to abstain from the use of those powerful in- 
struments of irony, sarcasm and invective, which he 
used with such cutting elTcct, and to confine himself 
to the employment of pure argument, whenever he 
spoke. He attempted it. He failed. His speech 
possessed no attraction — commanded no attention. 
He was mortified, and resumed his ancient style ; 
and listening and admiring audiences returned to 
him. 

When the House sat in what has been called the 
old Capitol (the brick building at the North-East 
corner of the Capitol-square,) Mr. Randolph one day 
came in collision with an able colleague from Vir- 
ginia, Mr. Sheffey, in argument, in the course of 
which Mr. Sheffey had indulged in some playful re- 
mark. Mr. R. replied, and concluded by otilering 
him some advice, which he said, he hoped would be 
kindly received: and that was, that logic being 
his (Mr. Shefi'ey's) forte, he ought to confine him- 
self to it, and never attempt wit, for which he pos- 
sessed no talent. Mr. Shefi'ey rejoined, answered 
the argument of Mr. Randolph, thanked him for his 
advice, but said he did not like to be in debt, and by 
-way of acquitting himself of it, he begged leave to 
offer some advice in return. Nature, he said, had 
been bountiful to Mr. R. in bestowing on him extra- 
ordinary wit, but had denied him any powers of ar- 
gument. Mr. S. would advise him, therefore, to con- 
fine himself to the regions of wit, and never attempt 
to soar in those of logic. Mr. R. immediately followed 
and handsomely remarked, that he took back what 
he had said of his colleague ; for he had shown him- 
self to be a man of wit as well as of logic. 

It was a pleasant and enlivening incident, and the 
whole House and both parties appeared to enjoy the 
joke. But Mr. Randolph returned to the House the 
next day, and renewed the attack with great bitter- 
ness. The parties had various and long passes at 
each other. Mr. R. was repeatedly called to order 
by Mr. Clay, and finally stopped. Tt was on that oc- 
casion, that Mr. Sheffey being called to order, Mr. 
Clay said that he would be out of order in replying, 
as he was, to any other Member but Mr. Randolph. 
During the interval of his retirement from Con- 
gress in 1822, Mr. Clay was delegated, in conjunc- 
tion with Mr. Bibb, to attend the Virginia Legisla- 
ture, for the adjustment of certain land claims in 
Kentucky. The House of Representatives of Vir- 
ginia appointed a day to receive and hear them at 
the bar of the House. The subject to be discussed 
was what were called the " occupying claimant 
laws" of Kentucky ; in other words, laws passed in 
behalf of the early settlers, the pioneers of the new 
State. The vicious system, which Virginia had 
adopted, of disposing of her waste asd unappropria- 
ted lands, had led to the most frightful confusion and 
uncertainty of title. No man was sure of his home 
and lands, no matter how long he had occupied or 
how greatly he had improved them. Some dormant 
adverse title might spring up and evict him from his 
residence. Those " occupying claimant laws" were 
passed to secure to him the fruits of his toil and la- 
3 



bor, by compelling the successful claimant to pay the 
value of all permanent improvements. In principle 
these laws were right, although they were liable to 
great abuse, through a sympathy with the actual set- 
tler, which often led the assessor to place an extrav- 
agant estimate upon the improvements. 

The validity of these laws was contested, and the 
Supreme Court of the United States had pronounced 
a decision against them. Whether they were valid 
or not depended upon the true interpretation of a 
compact between the States of Virginia and Ken- 
tucky, made at the time the latter was erected into a 
separate Commonwealth. The object of the mission 
of Messrs. Clay and Bibb was to prevail on the pa- 
rent State to consent to the establishment of some 
impartial tribunal other than the Supreme Court, to 
be constituted by the joint consent of the two States, 
to decide the question of validity. It was to accom- 
plish this object that the negotiators appeared before 
the Legislature. 

Their mission had excited much sensation and cu- 
riosity. The city of Richmond was crowded by 
persons attracted to it by the novelty of the scene. 
Mr. Clay, who had left it some twenty-five years be- 
fore, a poor orphan boy, and now found himself amid 
the remnant of his early associates, trembled lest he 
should not appear to advantage. The day for his 
presenting himself before the House at length ar- 
rived. The hall was crowded. The Judges of the 
Court of Appeals, among whom was the eminent 
Spencer Roane, who in 1797 had signed Mr. Clay's 
license— the members of the bar generally, and of 
the Senate, with many distinguished citizens, com- 
i posed the audience. In the presence of this intellec- 
tual multitude, Mr. Clay rose to address the House 
of Delegates. He described the hardships and suf- 
ferings of the early adventurers and settlers in Ken- 
tucky : how they had encountered and subdued the 
savages, felled the forests, built for themselves habi- 
tations, and, amid the greatest privations, cultivated 
the earth, with the rifle as near at hand as the spade 
and the plough. He painted in glowing and pathetic 
terms the sacrifices they had made in abandoning the 
homes of their fathers, the tombs of their ancestors, 
the friends of their youth. Mr. Clay had himself re- 
cently been in the neighborhood of the place which 
gave him birth, and the visit and his early recollec- 
tions probably imparted a deeper and more solemn 
intensity to his feelings and language. The whole 
assembly was gazing on him with fixed attention. 
You could have heard a pin drop in the pauses of 
his speech, such was the stillness. Nearly all his 
hearers were in tears. At this interesting juncture 
Mr. Clay attempted the quotation of a passage from 
the poems of Sir Walter Scott, now famiUar to every 
schoolboy, but then new to most of his audience. 
The words had fled from his memory ! He stood 
filled with emotion, and at the same time transfixed 
with deep though imperceptible embarrassment at 
the treacherous trick which his memory was serving 
him. He threw his right hand upon his forehead as 
if overwhelmed by his feelings, and remained in that 
posture so long, that he has been heard to say that 
he was actually meditating upon some mode of es- 
cape from his dilemma. Fortunately, however, the 
words came to his relief, and in his full-toned, melo- 
dious voice, he gave them forth : 



34 



Life of Henry Clay. 



" Lives there the man with soul so dead, 
That never to hiineelf has said, 
' This is my own, my native land I' " 

The effect upon the audience was electrical and 
transporting — far transcending what it would have 
been if his memory had not balked at all. 

The mission of Messrs. Clay and Bibb led to the 
appointment of the Hon. B. W. Leigh on the part 
of Virginia ; and Mr. Clay was .subsequently appoint- 
ed to condiict the negotiation with the latter on tlie 
part of Kentucky. They concluded at Ashland a 
convention, which, though -it was ratified by the 
Legislature of Kentucky and the House of Dele- 
gates of Virginia, was finally rejected in the Senate 
of the latter State. 

By an absence of nearly three yisars from Con- 
gress, Mr. Clay was enabled, through his profession- 
al labors, to retrieve his private affairs ; and in the 
summer of 1823, at the earnest and repeated solici- 
tations of his fellow-citizens, he accepted a renomi- 
nation, and was again chosen, v^'ilhout opposition, to 
represent his District in the lower House at Wash- 
ington. 

The first Session of the Eighteenth Congress 
opened the first Monday in December, 1823. At the 
first ballot for Speaker in tlie Plouse of liepresenta- 
tives, Mr. Clay was elected. Mr. Barbour, of Vir- 
ginia, the late Speaker, had forty-two votes — Mr. 
Clay had one hundred and thirty-nine. The follow- 
ing neat je?t d'csprit appeared in the National Intel- 
ligencer shortly after the election : 

"As near tlie Potomac's broad stream, t' other day 

Fair Liberty strolled in solicitous mood, 
Deep pondering the future — unheeding her way — 

She met Goddess Nature beside a gi'cen wood. 
' Good mother,' she cried. ' deign to help me at need ! 

1 must make for my giiardians a Speaker to-day : 
The first in the world I would give them.' — ' Indeed ! 

When I made the first Speaker, I made him of Clay !' " 

On taking the Speaker's chair, Mr. Clay made a 
brief and appropriate address, in which he returned 
his acknowledgments for the honor conferred. The 
duties of a Speaker are happily enumerated in his 
remarks on this occasion. 

On the 5th of December, Mr. Web.stcr, of Massa- 
chusetts, submitted a resolution providing by law 
for defraying the expense incident to the appoint- 
ment of an agent or commissioner to Greece, when- 
ever the President should deem it expedient to make 
euch appointment. He supported this proposition 
in a most able speech on the 19th of the ensuing ,Ian- 
uary. Mr. Clay stood .side by side with him in de- 
fence of the measure. Notwithstanding the advo- 
cacy of these gigantic champions, however, it failed 
in the House. 

Mr. Clay's speech on the subject, though brief, 
was full of fire and point. "Are we," he exclaimed, 
' 60 harablcd, so low, so debased, that we dare not 
' express our sympathy for su tiering Greece, that we 
'dare not articulate our detestation of the brutal ex.- 
' cesses of which she has been the bleeding victim, 
' lest we might oll'eud some one or more of their im- 
' perial and royal majesties ?" 

Although Mr. Clay failed at the moment in pro- 
curing the recognition of Greece, he afterward, when 
Secretary of Slate, accomplished hie object. The 



United States was the first independent power by 
whom she was recognized. 

Mr. Clay's labors during the Session of 1824 would 
alone have been sufficient to make his name memo- 
rable, to the latest posterity, in the annals of the 
country. The Session is signalized by the passage 
of the Tariff bill and of his measure in behalf of 
South American independence. In reference to the 
former, it should not be forgotten that it was through 
his vigilant and pensevering efforts that the Sugar 
Duty was saved. A member from Louisiana, by 
his constant and hitler opposition to the protective 
policy, had greatly incensed its friends. They were 
provoked by his pertinacity, and, in Committee of 
the Whole, struck out the item of Sugar from the 
list- of protected articles. Mr. Clay remoYistrated 
with them. He urged that the State ought not to 
be injured, and that it would be cruel to punish it 
for the supposed misconduct of one of its Represen- 
tatives. He entreated them, therefore, to restore the 
protective duty on Sugar, and finally prevailed on 
them, by personal appeals to individual members, to 
j restore it accordingly in the House. 

On the 1.1th of August, 1824, General LaPayette 
the nation's guest, arrived at New York in the Cad- 
mus, accompanied by his son. George Washington 
La Fayette. The following 10th of December, he 
was introduced to the House of Representatives by 
a select committee, appointed for the purpose. Mr. 
Clay, as Speaker, received him with a pertinent and 
elegant address. La Fayette was deeply affected 
by this address, uttered, as it was, in the Speaker's 
clear, musical, and genial tones ; and the hero of 
two hemispheres replied to it in a manner that be- 
tokened much emotion. 

This distinguished friend of America and of liber- 
t3' maintained to the end of his days an unwavering 
attachment for Mr. Clay ; and when the miserable 
cry of " bargain and corruption" was raised against 
the latter, at the time of his acceptance of the office 
of Secretary of State, La Fayette gave his conclu- 
sive testimony in favor of the integritj', ingenuous- 
ness, and public virtue, of his friend, and in vindica- 
tion of him from the charges which partizan hacks 
had originated. 

"THAT IS THE MAN WHOM I HOPE 
TO SEE PRESIDENT OP THE UNITED 
STATES," said La Fayette in 1832, pointing to a 
portrait of Mr. Clay, in presence of an officer of the 
United States navy, who was entertained by the 
great and good Frenchman at his country-seat. The 
anecdote here given may be found in the " Com- 
monwealth" newspaper published at Frankfort, Ken- 
tucky. 

We have .seen that Mr. Clay was at variance with 
President Mojiroo upon the subject of Internal Im- 
provements, as well as in regard to the mode of rec- 
ognizing the independence of the South-American 
patriots. Notwithstanding these differences of opin- 
ion, the personal relations of the Speaker and the 
Chief Magistrate were friendly. Mr. Clay was of- 
fered a seat in the cabinet, and a carte blanche of all 
the foreign missions. Had place been his ambition 
and his object, he might have attained it without any 
sacrifice of independence — without any loss of po- 
sition as the acknowledged head of the great re- 
publican party. He saw, however, that he could be 



Presidential Election of 1824 — The Kremer Calumny. 



35 



more useful to his country in Congress. Measures 
of vital importance were to be earned. The Tarifl' 
was to be adjusted — the Missouri business to be set- 
tled — the constitiitiannlity of Internal Imjjrovements 
was to be adiniited — South American independence 
was to be acknowledged — how could he conscien- 
tiously quit a post, where he wielded an influence 
more potent than the President's, while such mo- 
mentous questions remained open ? These being 
disposed of, he would be at liberty to pursue any 
course which his inclinations might indicate, or 
which the public interests might sanction. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Tlie Presidentia) Question— Nomination offtlr. Cla y— Hi« nunli- 
tications set Ibrtli— General Harrison in favor of Henry Cloy^ 
^Slanders in the House— Krenier's Letter^Jlonstrous nature of 
the charges against Mr. O.— His course in regard to thena— Ap- 
pointment of a Committee of Examinatiun-<;oniplete Re- 
futation of the Calumny— Mr. Clay's Address to his Constitu- 
ents— Election of John Quiucy Adams by the House— Exas- 
peration of Gen. Jackson's Friends— Mr. Clay's independence 
of spirit— Motives of his preference-^Gen. Lafayette substan- 
tiates his Assertions— Mr. Clay appointed Secretary of State- 
Views of this act— Slander temporary, Justice inevitable — His 
character as Speaker— Anecdotes, &c. 

As Mr. Monroe's second Presidential term drew 
to a close, the question of the next Presidency be- 
gan to be busily agitated. Four prominent candi- 
dates were presented by their friends for the suflfrages 
of the People : being John Qumcy Adams of Mas- 
sachusetts, Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, Henry 
Clay of Kentucky, and William H. Crawford of 
Georgia. 

In November, 1822, Mr Clay had been nominated 
as a suitable successor to James Monroe, at a meet- 
ing of the Members of the Legislature of Kentucky. 
The nomination soon after met with a response from 
similar meetings in Louisiana, Missouri and Ohio ; 
and, as the period of the election approached, he was 
hailed by large bodies of his fellow citizens in all 
parts of the country as their favorite candidate. 

The campaign of 1 S24 was one of the most warmly 
contested in our annals. Some of the more unscru- 
pulous of the friends of the various candidates re- 
sorted to manoeuvres unworthy of their cause to 
advance their ends. Just as the election was com- 
mencing, a report was industriously circulated in 
different quarters of the country that Mr. Clay had 
withdrawn from the Presidential contest. In conse- 
quence of this report. General William H. Harrison, 
and other of Mr. Clay's friends in Ohio, published a 
declaration, in which it was asserted that he (Mr. 
Clay) " would not be withdrawn from the contest 
' but by the fiat of his Maker." Our late lamented 
Chief Magistrate was at that time, and ever after, 
his devoted political, as well as personal friend ; and 
lie has often been heard to declare his preference for 
iiim over all other candidates. 

Early in the campaign it was discovered that there 
would be no election of President by the People. 
By the Constitution, the House of Representatives 
would, therefore, be called upon to choose from the 
three highest candidates. In December, 1324, soon 
efter the meeting of Congress, it was known that 
tlie three highest candidates were Jackson, Adams 
and Crawford, and that Mr. Clay and his friends 
would have it in their power, when the question 
came before the House, of turning the balance in 
favor of any one of the tliree. 



Mr. Clay's position was now an extremely impor- 
tant one. Several weeks were to intervene before 
the election ; and, in the mean time, the partisans of 
the three candidates looked with intense anxiety to 
the Speaker's course. His preferences were dis- 
tinctly known to his personal friends, for he had 
expressed them in his letters and his conversations; 
but it would have been indelicate and superfluous 
for him to have electioneered in behalf of any one 
of the rival candidates — to have given occasion for 
intrigues and coalitions by deciding the question in 
advance. 

While all parties were in this state of suspense, a 
gross and unprincipled attempt was made to brow- 
beat Mr. Clay, and drive him from what was rightly 
supposed to be his position of preference for Mr. 
Adams. A letter, the authorship of which was 
afterward avowed by George Kremer, a member of 
the House from Pennsylvania, appeared in a Phila- 
delphia newspaper called the ' Columbian Observer,' 
charging Mr. Clay and his friends with the most 
flagitious intentions — in short, with the design of 
selling their vote to the highest bidder. 

Monstrous as were these intimations, they were 
calculated to carry some weight with the ignorant 
and unreflecting. By such persons, it would not 
be taken into consideration that Mr. Clay had al- 
ready declined oflices of the highest grade under 
Madison and Monroe — that, if either Jackson or 
Crawford had been elected through his agency, tho 
first office in the gift of either would indubitably 
have been offered to him — that, in accepting office 
under Mr. Adams, it was universally understood at 
Washington he was conferring rather than receiving 
a favor — that he might not inaptly have been accused 
of acting an ungenerous part, if, after bringing tlie 
Adams Administration into power, he had refused it 
the countenance so essential to its success — that he 
would have neglected the solicitations of all who 
acted with him from the West had he refused the 
Secretaryship — and, in short, that in order to justify 
his vote it was incumbent on him to submit to the 
united voice of the friends of the new Administra- 
tion, and bring to it as much of his Western strength 
as he could lend. 

The ' Columbian Observer,' in which the precious 
epistle we have alluded to appeared, was a print sus- 
tained by Mr. Eaton, the friend, biographer, and col- 
league in the Senate of General Jackson. The 
position of the writer of the letter, as a member of 
Congress, gave it a consequence which, utterly con- 
temptible as it is, it would not otlierwise, in any de- 
gree, have possessed. Mr. Clay deemed it incum- 
bent upon him to notice it; and he published a Card 
in the National Intelligencer, pronouncing the author 
of the letter, whoever he might be, " a base and in- 
• famous calumniator." This was answered by & 
Card from Mr. George Kremer, in which the writey 
said he held himself ready to prove, to the satisfac- 
tion of unprejudiced minds, enough to satisfy ihem 
of tlie accuracy of the statements in tlie letter, so far 
as Mr. Clay was concerned. 

The calumny having been thus fathered, Mr. Clay 
ro^'e in his place in the House, and demanded an in- 
vcstisaiion into the affair. 

A Committee was accordingly appointed by bal- 
lot on the .5th of February, 183.'). It was compo.ied 
of some of the leading members of the House, nrS 



36 



Life of Henry Clay. 



one of whom was- Mr. Clay's political friend. Al- 
though Mr. Kremer had declared to the House and 
to the public his willingness to brin^ forward his 
proofs, and his readiness to abide the issue of the 
inquiry, his fears, or other counsels than his own, 
prevailed upon him to resort finally to a miserable 
subterfuge. The Committee reported that Mr. 
Kremer declined appearing before them, alleging 
ihat he could not do so u-ilhout appearing either as 
en accuser or a witness, both of which he pro- 
tested against .' " 

And yet this same Mr. Kremer, a day or two be- 
fore, when the subject of appointing an Investigating 
Committee came up, had risen in his seat in the 
House and said : — " If, upon an investigation being 
' instituted, it should appear that he had not suf- 
' ficient reasons to justify the statements he had 
' made, he trusted he should receive the marked 
' reprobation which had been suggested by the 
' Speaker. Let it fall where it might, Mr. K. said, 
' he n-as willing- to meet the inquiry, and abide the 
■* result.'^ 

But it is not on Mr. Kremer alone that our indig- 
nation should be expended for this miserable attempt 
to bolster up a profligate calunmy just long enough 
for it to operate on tlie approaching Election. He 
was merely a tool in the hands of deeper knaves. 
A thick-headed, illiterate, foolish, good-natured 
man, he was ready, in his blind attachment to Gen. 
Jackson, to do any servile deed that might pro- 
pitiate his idol. He seems to have inwardly re- 
pented of the act as soon as it had been committed. 
He frequently declared his determination to ofl'er an 
explanation and apology to Mr. Clay ; and had gone 
so far as to draw up a paper for this purpose, which 
was submitted to the latter. But Mr. Clay replied 
that the affair had passed from his control into that 
of the House ; — and the rogues, who had taken Mr. 
Kremer into their keeping, were careful not to allow 
him to repeat his oft'er of an apology subsequently 
when the House chose to let the matter drop. 

In 1827-8, Mr. Clay, in an Address to his con- 
stituents, gave a full and interesting history of this 
affair, together with the sequel, at which we shall 
glance in our next Chapter, and in which General 
Jackson figured conspicuously. 

On the 9th of February, 1825, in the presence of 
both Houses of Congress, Mr. Tazewell, from the 
Committee of Tellers, reported the votes of the 
diflerent States for President and Vice President of 
the United States. The aggregate was as follows: 
John Quincy Adams had eighty-four votes; Wil- 
liam H. Crawford, forty-one; Andrew Jackson, 
ininety-nine; and Henry Clay, thirty-seven,* — the 

* The vote for Mr. Clay in the nriirtnry C^oIIpges stood :— Oliio, 
16: Ketitiirky, 14; New-York, 4; Missouri, 3. By soniepnrty 
chicaiipry or roiilitioii intrisiie, lie wns rtofrnudeil out of Electoral 
Votes in rsew-Yurk inul l.iiiiisiiiriii u liieh would have beer) more 
than siitiic-ieiit to have rpiiilerfd liioi one of the three raiididales 
returned to the Mouse, it is, perhaps, iiruieees-arv to revive the 
reeolleeti.in of those frauds upon tlic I'.'c.ple, i,v whn li their 
favorite clianipion was c-xeliideil tVoio a poMth.n, from w liieh h.> 
would uniiueslionahiy have !ieen ele\ateil to the rresideii.-v. It 
■will he seen that .Mi-oiin iravc her entire Vot,' to Mr. (lav in 
1S24, at which time Thomas H. Henton took the lead in his 
support, us the euiididi.t-- most favorable to Internal lnj|)ro\e- 
ment-s and the Protection of American Industry. The Tarty 
calling themselves BuektJiils, in New-York, were divided be- 
tween Oawtbrd and Clay, the former hnviiis the majority. The 
Opposition Party (t'lintoninn.s) were divided between Adams 
and Clay: nlthoiifrh hv far the larger portion preferred Ailnnis. 
Hut on a division ( 'lay iind more strcigtli than either of the others 
imd, on a fair expression of opini/n, would liave cuniiuandcd 
■ one-half the IClectors. 

The Crawlord portion of the Pnektail Party was headed hy 
aWi. Van Bureii,— tlie portiuu \\ hicU favureii Sir. Clay was lei 



latter having been deprived, by party intrigue 
and chicanery, of the votes of New-York and 
Louisiana — which would have carried him into the 
House, where he would undoubtedly have been 
elected President, over all other candidates. 

The President of the Senate rose, and declared 
that no person had received a majority of the votes 
given for President of the United States ;■ -that 
Andrew Jackson, John Q. Adams and William H. 
Crawford were the three persons who had received 
the highest number of votes, and that the remaining 
duties in the choice of a President now devolved on 
the House of Representatives. He farther declared, 
that John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, having 
received one hundred and eighty-two votes, was 
duly elected V'ice President of the United States, to 
serve for four years from the ensuing fourth day of 
March. The members of the Senate then retired. 

The Constitution provides, that " from the per- 
' sons having the highest numbers, not exceeding 
' three, on the list voted for as President, the House 
' of Representatives shall choose immediately, by 
' ballot, a President." 

The friends of General Jackson now, as a matter 
of course, eagerly advanced the doctrine that a 
plurality of votes for any one candidate should be 
considered as decisive of the will of the People, and 
should influence the members of the House in their 
votes. As if a mere plurality, forsooth, ought to 
swallow up a majority I A more dangerous doc- 
trine, and one more directly opposed to the spirit of 
the Constitution, could not well be imagined. It 
cannot be called Democratic, for it does not admit 
tlie prevalence of the will of the majority in the 
Election. It was, in fact, a dogma engendered for 
the occasion by the friends of the candidate, who 
happened to come into the House with a plurality 
of votes. 

Mr. Clay was not to be dragooned into the admis- 
sion of any such principle. He resolved to be guid- 
ed by what was plainly the letter and spirit of the 
Constitution, and to give his vote to that man, whom 
he believed to be the most competent to preside over 
the destinies of the Republic. By a personal visit 
to Mr. Crawford he had satisfied himself that that 
gentleman was too broken dow n in health to dis- 
charge with filling energy the duties of the Chief 
Magistracy. His option lay, therefore, between 
Messrs. Adams and Jackson. 

We have seen wliat were Mr. Clay's views of the 
character of General Jackson as far back as 1819, 
when the Seminole question was before the House. 
Was it jjossible that he should regard those traits, 
which, in the soldier, had led to conduct, at war 
with the Constitution, as qualifications in the Pre- 
sident ? General Jackson was, furthermore, under- 



hy Mr. Young. To heal this division and give the united 
strength of that Party to .Mr. ( 'rawf ird, the nomination of Gov- 
ernor was tendered to !\lr. Young. He accepted the nomination 
and from lliat time hi' and his fricnd.s abandoned Mr. C'.andgav» 
their siijipurt to Mr, ( 'rawh rd. 

Hut tor this arruiieement, it is certain that Mr. Clay would 
have received I'.lectoriil Votes enough, from the t^tate of New- 
York, to have carried him hito the House with General Jackson 
and Mr. Adams. 

Mr. t'lay had still many friends in the Senate and Assembly. 
who united in supporting a Ticket consisting of twenty-tive 
Adams n»cn and eleven Crawford men. Of these, however, it 
was understood that some preferred Mr. C'lav, and would c«st 
their votes tor him, in the event that by so noing he could be 
brought into the House. But before the vote of the Electoral 
College was given, the news of the loss of Ijouisinna was re- 
ceived, which was thought to put an end to the contingency 
and the Electors friendly to Mr. Clay voted, some for Rlr. C:«.w- 
fjrd, uud some fiyr i>lr. Atlaau. 



Lafayette's Testimony — Truth Triumphant. 



37 « 



stood to be hostile to those great systenis of Inter- 
nal Improvement and protection to home manufac- 
tures, which Mr. Clay had spent the best part of his 
public life in establishing. At least, the General's 
views were vacillating and undecided on these points. 
Could Mr. Clay be called upon to sacrifice those 
important interests on the shrine of merely sectional 
partiality — for the sake of having a Western rather 
than an Eastern man to preside over the Union 1 

No ! Henry Clay was not to be influenced by such 
narrow and unworthy considerations. He has himself 
said : " Had I voted for General Jackson in oppo- 
' sition to the well known opinions which I enter- 
' tained of him, one-tenth part of the ingenuity and 
' zeal which have been employed to excite preju- 
' dices against me, would have held me up to uni- 
' versal contempt ; and, what would have been 
' worse, I should have felt that I really deserved it." 
According to the testimony of his friend, Gen. Call, 
Gen. Jackson himself never expected that he would 
receive the vote of Mr. Clay. 

With Mr. Adams, Mr. Clay had always been on 
amicable if not on intimate terms. At Ghent, they 
had differed on a question of public policy, but they 
both had too much liberality of soul to make their 
dissimilarity of opinion a cause of personal displea- 
sure and variance. The Speaker saw in Mr. Adams, 
a statesman highly gifted, profoundly learned, and 
long and greatly experienced in public affairs at home 
and abroad. 

How could he in conscience hesitate when the 
choice lay between two such men ? He did not he- 
sitate. He had never hesitated. Long before he 
left Kentucky, according to the testimony of the 
Hon. John J. Crittenden, six of the Kentucky dele- 
gation in Congress, and some hundreds of respecta- 
ble citizens, Mr. Clay declared that he could not 
imagine the contingency in which he would vote for 
General Jackson. A still more important witness, 
in the person of the great and good Lafayette, came 
forward to testify in Mr. Clay's behalf, as the fol- 
lowing extract from his letter to Mr. Clay will show : 

" My remembrance concurs with your own on this 
point:' that in the latter end of December either be- 
fore or after ray visit to Annapolis, you being out of 
the presidential candidature, and after having ex- 
pressed my above-mentioned motives of forbearance, 
1, by way of confidential exception, allowed myself 
to put a simple, unqualified question, reppecting 
your electioneering guess, and your intended vote. 
Your answer was, that in vour opinion, the actual 
state of health of Mr. Crauford had limited the con- 
test to a choice betiree/i Mr. Adams and General 
Jackson: that a claim founded on military achieve- 
ments did not meet your preference, and that you 

HAD CONCLUDED TO VOTE FOR Mr. ADAMS." 

Notwithstanding the flagitious attempt to influ- 
?nce his vote, Mr. Clay unhesitatingly gave it for 
Mr. Adams, and decided the election in his favor. 
He went further. When, after he was seated in the 
Presidential Chair, Mr. Adams offered him the Sec- 
retaryship of State, he had the moral courage to ac- 
cept it in defiance of the storm of calumny, exasper- 
ation and malignant opposition, which he knew that 
act would bring down upon him. 

This was a critical period in Mr. Clay's public 
life — a bold, intrepid and magnanimous movement. 
We know that he now thinks it was a mistaken one. 
In his speech of the 9th of June, 1S4'2, at Lexington, 
he says : " My error in accepting the office arose 



'out of my underrating the power of detraction and 
' the force of ignorance, and abiding with too sure a 
' confidence in the conscious integrity and upright- 
' ness of my own motives. Of that ignorance, I had 
' a remarkable and laughable example on an occa- 
'sion which I will relate. I was travelling, in 1898, 
' through, I believe it was, Spottsylvania in Virgin- 
' ia, on my return to Washington, in company with 
' some yoimg friends. We halted at night at a tavern, 
' kept by an aged gentleman, who, I quickly per- 
' ceived, from the disorder and confusion which reign- 
' ed, had not the happinesss to have a wife. After 
' a hurried and bad supper, the old gentleman sat 
' down by me, and without hearing my name, l)Ut 
'understanding that I was from Kentucky, remarked 
' that he had four sons in that State, and that he was 
' very sorry tliey were divided in politics, two being 
' for Adams and two for Jackson; he wished they 
' were all for Jackson. Why ? I asked him. Be- 
' cause, he said, that fellow Clay, and Adams, had 
cheated Jackson out of the Presidency. Have you 
'ever seen any evidence, my old friend, said I, of 
'that? No, he replied none, and he wanted to see 
' none. But, I observed, looking him directly and 
' steadily in the face, suppose Mr. Clay were to 
' come here and assure you, upon his honor, that it 
' was all a vile calumny, and not a word of truth in 
'it, would you believe him? No, replied the old 
' gentleman promptly and emphatically. I said to 
' him, in conclusion, will you be good enough to 
' show me to bed, and bade him good night. The 
' next morning, having in the interval learnt my 
' name, he came to me full of apologies, but I a{ 
'once put him at his ease by assuring him that I 
'did not feel in the slightest degree hurt or offended 
'with him." 

With deference, we must express our dissent frotn 
Mr. Clay in regarding his acceptance of office under 
Mr. Adams as an " error." It may have been, so 
far as his personal interests were concerned, erro- 
neous, and impolitic ; but, in reference to his public 
duties, it was right; it was honest; it was courage- 
ous. Both Madison and Monroe had offered him 
the highest offices in their gift ; but the country was 
at those times in such a state, that he thought he 
could make himself more useful in Congress; and 
he refused tnem. None but the ignorant and base- 
minded could credit the monstrous assertion, that he 
had made the promise of the Secretaryship the con- 
dition of giving his vote for Mr. Adams. 

Mr. Clay may have been temporarily injured by 
the wretched slander ; and it will be seen, as we ad- 
vance in his biography, that after it had been drop- 
ped by Kremer, it was revived by General Jackson. 
But we do not believe that there is at this time a 
single person of moderate intelligence in the coun- 
try, who attaches tlie least credit to the story, tho- 
roughly exploded as it has been by the most abun- 
dant and triumphant testimony. 

It is, therefore, because we have faith in the ul- 
timate prevalence of truth, that we do not think Mr. 
Clay was in error, when he so far defied his tradu- 
cers as to accept the very office which they had 
previously accused him of bargaining for. The 
clouds which for the moment hide Truth from our 
sight only make her shine the brighter when they 
are dissipated. In the words of Spenser: 



38 



Life of Henry Clay. 



U often falls in course of common life. 

That Riglit long time is overlioriie of Wronj, 
Thro avarice, or power, or guile, or strife; 
But Justice, tliough lier doom she do prolong. 
Yet at the last she will her own cause right.^' 

Mr. Clay may still abide, " with a sure confidence, 
in the conscious integrity and uprightness of his 
own motives." Slander has done her worst, ft'e- 
ver before, in the history of our government, was a 
public man so bitterly assailed by every weapon 
and engine that unprincipled detraction and malig- 
nant party hostility could invent. For years, the 
opposition, in the face of tlie most decided and com- 
plete refutations of the calumny— and notwithstand- 
ing the original inventors had themselves confessed 
its falsity — continued to thrust it before the public, 
uutil, at length, they could find none so mean and 
ignorant to credit it. The natural reaction has ta- 
ken place ; and every honest heart now visits with 
indignation any attempt to resuscitate the crushed 
and obscene lie. Mr. Clay's reputation has come 
forth whiter and purer from the ordeal. The " most 
fine gold" is all the more bright because of those 
who would have dimmed its lustre. The stream of 
time is fast bearing down to oblivion the frail and 
unfounded falsehoods of his enemies ; but the pil- 
lars of his renown, based as they are upon inesti- 
mable public serviQCs, remain unshaken and unim- 
paired. 

Mr. Clay entered upon the duties of his new post 
in March, 1825. In him the House of Representa- 
tives lost the ablest and most efficient speaker that 
had ever graced the chair. The best proof of his 
popularity may be found in the eloquent fact, that 
from the time of his first entry into the House in 1811 
to 1825, with the exception of two years when he was 
voluntarily absent, he was chosen to preside over 
tlieir deliberations almost without opposition. The 
period of his Speakership will alwajs be regarded 
as an epoch in the history of our Federal Legisla- 
ture. Perhaps the most remarkable characteristic 
of his Presidency over the House, was his perfect — 
his unimpeachable impartiality. Both foes and 
friends bore testimony to this trait without a dis- 
senting voice. Strong as were his party feelings, 
they never could induce him, even in the very tem- 
pest and whirlwind of debate, to treat an opponent 
with unfairness or undue neglect. His decisions 
were always prompt, yet never so hasty as to be re- 
versed by the House. Notwithstanding the many 
momentous and agitating questions which were dis- 
cussed while he occupied the chair, he was never 
known to lose his self-possession, or to fail in pre- 
serving the dignity of his position. 

During the long period of his service (some twelve 
or thirteen years) in the chair, such was the confi- 
dence reposed in his impartiality and the rectitude 
of his judgment, that appeals were rarely taken 
from his decision — during the last years of his iti- 
cumbency, scarcely one. 

It was under Mr. Clay's administration o^ the 
duties of the chair, that the present use of the pre- 
vious question in terminating debate was establish- 
ed. In England it is employed to put by or post- 
pone a subject which it is deemed improper to de- 
bate ; and then, when the House of Commons do 
not choose to hear an unacceptable debater, he is si- 
lenced by being shuffled or coughed down. Cer- 
tainly it is more orderly, and less invidious, for the ; 



House itself to determine when a subject shall bo 
put to the question and all debate upon it stopped 
And every deliberative body ought necessarily to 
possess the power of deciding when it will ex- 
press its judgment or opinion u{)on any proposi- 
tion before it, and, consequently, when debate shall 
close. 

It has been seen, that Mr. Clay's presiding in tha 
cliair did not prevent his taking an active and lead- 
ing part in all the great measures that came before 
the House in committee of the whole. His spirits 
were always buoyant, and his manner in debate ge- 
nerally animated, and sometimes vehement. But 
he never carried from the floor to the chair the ex- 
cited feelings arising in debate. There he was still 
composed, dignified, authoritative, but perfectly 
impartial. His administration of its duties com- 
manded the undivided praise of all parties. 

Uniformly cheerful when on the floor, he sometimes 
indulged in repartee. The late General Alexan- 
der Smyth of Virginia, a man of ability and re- 
search, was an excessively tedious speaker, worrv- 
ing the House and prolonging his speeches by nu- 
merous quotations. On one of these occasions, when 
he had been more than ordinarily tiresome, while 
hunting up an authority, hs observed to Mr. Clay, 
who was sitting near him, "you, sir, speak for the 
present generation; but I speak for posterity,"— 
" Yes," said Mr. Clay, " and you seem resolved to 
speak until the arrival ofyonr audience!" 

The late Governor Lincoln of Maine was a gentle- 
man of fine feelings, eloquent, but declamatory. On 
one occasion, when addressing the House of Repre- 
sentatives, of which he was a member, on the Re 
volutionary Pension Bill, in answer to an argument 
that it would be a serious charge upon the 7'reasu- 
ry of long continuance, as many of the ofhcers and 
soldiers would live a great while, he burst out into 
the patriotic exclamation, " Soldiers of the Revolii- 
tion, live for ever!" Mr. Clay followed him, incul- 
cating moderation, and concluded by turning to Mr. 
Lincoln, with an arch smile, and observing, " I hope 
my worthy friend will not insist upon the very great 
duration of these pensions, which he has suggested. 
Will he not consent, by way of a compromise, to a 
term of 999 years instead of eternity ?" 



CHAPTER IX. 

Account of Mr. Hay's Intercourse will] General Jackson— B?v 
erley (.'artpr's I^etter— General Jackson the Accu^-er of Mr. 
t'lny— ^Mr. Buchan:in— Final Refutation of the Blunder— Mr- 
Adams s Testimony— Repeated more strongly in 1&13— Oppo- 
sition to ftlr. Adams's Administration— Its Character— .lohn 
Kundoljjh's Assaults— His Iftiel with Mr. Clay— Last Inter- 
view- with Mr. Clay in 1833— Impaired state of I\!r. C^lay's 
Health— Qualifications for the ticcrct.irv.s'iip— The Panama 
Instructions— Objects proposed in th" rai;:unii Congress— Mr 
Clay's Letter to Mr. Middieton— His Ncpoti.'itions while Sec- 
retfiry ot Stute— Treaties— DociiTiienIs fn)i;i his pen— Policy of 
Mr. Adams's Admini.stration— CoaliliDn v( the Opporition— 
Their Consistency— The Coloniiil Bill — Mr. Van Buren — 
Modes of Attack— Federalism ami LVmocracj — Jacksonism 
and Federalism Idonlified — Presidential Election of 1828— 
Choice of .Andrew .laiksoii—Kconomy under Adams, Jack 
son, and Van liiircn— Mr. Cl:!y's views toward the new Ad- 
ministration-He leaves Washington— Gn>ss attemot to injure 
his private credit— His Letter to R. VVickliil'e, E^.' 



Mr. Clay has himself given to the public a his- 
tory of his intercourse with General Jackson. It 
may be found in hi.s speech of 1833 in the Senate ou 
the Sub-Treasury Scheme. 

"My uc(juaintance," he says, "with that extra- 



Annihilation of the Charge made by Gen. Jackson. 



39 



ordinary man commenced m this city, in the Fall oi 
1815 or 1816. It was short, but highly respectful 
and mutualiv cordial. 1 beheld in him the gallant 
and successful General, wh>, by the glorious vic- 
tory of New-Orleans, had honorably closed the sec- 
ond War of our I ndeiiendence, and I paid him the 
homage due for that eniincat service. A few years 
after, it became my painful duty to animadvert, in 
the House of Representatives, witii the indepen- 
dence which belongs to the Representative charac 
ter, upon some of his proceedings in the conduct o( 
tlie fcScn>inolc War, vvhieli 1 thought illegal and con- 
trary to the Constitution and the law of Nations. A 
iion'intercourse between us ensued, which continued 
until the Fall of 1824, when, he being a member of 
the Senate, an accommodation between us was 
soueht to be brought about by the principal part of 
the 'delegation from his own State. For that pur- 
pose, we were invited to dine with them at Clax- 
ton's boarding-house on Capitol Hill, where my 
venerable friend from Tcnnessee^Mr. White) and 
his colleague on the Spanish Commission, were both 
present. I retired early from dinner, and was fol- 
lowed to the door by General Jackson and the pre- 
sent Minister of the United States at the Court of 
Madrid (Mr. Eaton.) They pressed me earnestly to 
take a seat with them in their carriage. My faithful 
servant and friend, Charles, was standing at the door 
waiting for me with my own. 1 yielded to their ur- 
gent politeness, directed Charles to follow with my 
carriage, and they sat me down by my own door. 
We afterward frequently met, with mutual respect 
and cordiality : dined several times together, and 
reciprocated "the hospitality of our respective quar- 
ters. This friendly intercourse continued until the 
election, in the House of Representatives, of a Pre- 
pident of the United States, came on in February, 
1825. I gave the vote which, in the contingency 
that happened, I told my colleague, (Mr. Critten- 
den,) who sits before me, prior to my departure from 
Kentucky, m November, 1824, and told others, that 
I should give. All intercourse ceased between Gen- 
eral Jackson and myself. We have never since, ex- 
cept once accidentally, exchanged salutations, nor 
met, except on occasions when we were perforniing 
the last offices toward deceased members of Con- 
gress, or other officers of Government. Immediate- 
ly after my vote, a rancorous war was commenced 
against me, and all the barking dogs let loose upon 
me. I shall not trace it during its ten years' bitter 
continuance. But I thank my God that I stand here, 
firm and erect, unbent, unbroken, unsubdued, un- 
awed, and ready to denounce the mischievous mea- 
sures of this Administration, and ready to denounce 
this, its legitimate offspring, the most pernicious of 
all." 

Directly after the adjournment of the 19th Con- 
gress, a letter, dated March 8, 1825, appeared in the 
newspapers, purporting to relate a conversation of 
the writer with General Jackson, in which the lat- 
ter said that Mr. Clay's friends in Congress pro- 
posed to his friends (Gen. J.'s) that if they would 
promise for him, that ?.Ir. Adams should not be con- 
tinued as Secretary of State, Mr. Clay and his 
friends would at once elect General Jackson Presi- 
dent ; and that he (Gen. Jackson) indignantly re- 
jected the proposition. Mr. Carter Beverly, the au 
thor of this letter, wrote to Gen. Jackson, soon after 
its appearance, for a confirmation of its statements. 
General Jackson replied, in a letter dated June 5, 
1327 — more than two years after the charge was fir at 
made ; — but just in season to operate upon approach- 
ing elections ; and, in his reply, directly charged the 
friends of Mr. Clay with having proposed to him, 
(Jackson,) through a distinguished Member of Con- 
Stress, to vote for him, in case he would declare that 



Mr. Adams should not be continued as Secretary of 
State; and insinuated that this proposition was made 
by authority of Mr. Clay ; and to strengthen that 
insinuation, asserted that immediately after the re- 
jection ol the proposition, Mr. Clay came out openly 
for Mr. Adams. 

To this proposition, according to his own account, 
General Jack.=;on returned for answer, that before he 
would reach tlic Presidential Chair by such means 
of bargain and corruption, " he would see the earth 
open, "and swallow both Mr. Clay and his friends 
and himself with them !"— a reply, which was no 
doubt literally true inasmuch as " such means " 
could never have been used to elevate the Hero of 
New-Orleans to the Presidency. 

General Jackson gave up the name of Mr. Bu- 
chanan of Pennsylvania as " the distinguished Mem- 
ber of Congress," to whom he had alluded in his 
letter to Mr. Beverly. Mr. Buchanan being thus 
involved in the controversy, although a personal and 
political friend of General Jackson, made a state- 
ment which entirely exculpated Mr. Clay and his 
friends from all participation in the alleged proposi- 
tion. He stated, that in the month of December, & 
rutnor was in circulation at Washington, that Gen. 
Jackson intended, if elected, to keep Mr. Adams in 
as Secretary of State. Believing that such a belief 
would cool his friends and inspire his opponents 
with confidence, and being a supporter of General 
Jackson himself, he thought that the General ought 
to contradict the report. He accordingly called on 
him, and made known his views ; to which General 
Jackson replied, that though he thought well of Mr. 
Adams, he had never said or intimated, that he 
would or would not, appoint him Secretary of State. 
Mr. Buchanan then asked permission to repeat this 
answer to any person he thought proper, which was 
granted, and here the conversation ended. And out 
of such flimsy materials had General Jackson con- 
structed his rancorous charge against Mr. Clay ! 

Mr. Buchanan further stated, that he called on 
General Jackson solely as his friend, and upon his 
own responsibility, and not as an agent for Mr. Clay, 
or any other person , that he had never been a 
friend of Mr. Clay during the Presidential contest; 
and thai he had not the most distant idea that Gen. 
Jackson believed, or suspected that he came on be- 
half of Mr. Clay, or of his friends, until the publi- 
cation of the letter, making that accusation. 

Notliwithstanding all grounds for the charge 
were thus annihilated by the testimony of the " dis- 
tinguished Member of Congress" — himself a warm 
partizan of General Jackson— the asinine cry oi 
bargain and corruption was still kept up by the op- 
ponents of the Administration ; and the most auda- 
cious assertions were substituted for proofs. 

At length, although not the slightest shadow of 
anything resembling evidence had been produced in 
support of the calumny, a body of testimony per- 
fectly overwhelming was produced against it. A 
Circular Letter was addressed to the Western Mem- 
bers (for they alone were accused of being impli- 
cated in the alleged transaction) who voted for Mr. 
Adams in the election by Congress in 1825, request- 
ing to know whether there was any foundation for 
the charge in the letter of General Jackson. 

They all (with the exception of Mr. Cook, who 
was dead) utterly disclaimed tlie knowledge of any 



40 



Life of Henry Clay. 



proposition made by Mr. Clay, or his friends, to 
General Jackson, or to any other person ; and also 
explicitly disclaimed any negotiation with respect 
to their votes on that occasion. On the contrary, 
the members from Ohio stated that they had deter- 
mined upon voting for IMr. Adams previous to their 
being informed of Mr. Clay^s intention, and with- 
out having ascertained his views. 

The members from Kentucky, who voted with 
Mr. Clay, expressed their ignorance of conditions of 
any sort having been offered by his friends to any 
person, on compliance with which their vote was 
Id depend. 

The members from Louisiana and Missouri, coin- 
cided in these declarations, and they all professed 
their belief in the falsehood of the charges against 
Mr. Clay, on account of his conduct on that occasion. 
In addition to this testimony, letters were pro- 
duced from well known individuals, satisfactorily 
establishing the fact that Mr. Clay, previous to his 
leaving his residence in Kentucky for Washington, 
in the Fall of 1824, repeatedly made declarations of 
his preference for Mr. Adams over General Jack- 
son, through the months of October, November, De- 
cember and January following, until he executed 
that intention on the 9th of Febuary, 1825, in the 
House of Representatives. We have already quo- 
ted from General Lafayette's letter to Mr. Clay a 
passage confirming this ample testimony. 

Such a mass of evidence effectually crushed the 
accusation respecting a bargain, and convinced the 
public, that in voting for Mr. Adams, Mr. Clay and 
his friends conscientiously discharged their duty ; 
and that they could not have voted otherwise without 
palpable inconsistency. 

When, on the occasion of his speech of June, 1842, 
at Lexington, Mr. Clay alluded to this calumny, of 
■which we have given a brief history, somebody cried 
out, that Mr. Carter Beverly, who had been made 
the organ of announcing it, had recently borne testi- 
mony to its being unfounded. Mr. Clay said it was 
true tliat he had voluntarily borne such testimony. 
But, with great earnestness and emphasis, Mr. Clay 
said, / want no testimony ; here — here — HERE — 
(repeatedly touching his heart, amid tremendous 
cheers) — here is the best of all u-itnesscs of my in- 
nocence. 

Soon after the close of his administration, Mr. Ad- 
ams, in reply to an address from a committee of gen- 
tlemen in New Jersey, spoke in the following terms 
of Mr. Clay: 

'• Upon him (Mr. Clay) the foulest slanders have 
been showered. Long known and appreciated, as 
successively a Member of both Houses of your Na- 
tional Legislature, as the unrivalled Speaker, and, 
at the same time, most efficient leader of debates in 
one of them ; as as able and successful negotiator for 
your interests in war and peace, with foreign powers, 
and as a powerful candidate for the highest of your 
trusts — the Department of State itself was a station, 
which, by its bestoaat, could confer neither profit 
nor lionor tipon him, but upon which he has shed 
unfading honor, by the manner in which he has dis- 
charged its duties. Prejudice and passion have 
charged him with obtaining that office by bargain 
and corruption. Before you, my fellow-citizens, in 
the presence of our country and Heaven, I pro- 
nounce tluit charge totally u/fuunded. This tribute 
of justice is due from nie to lilm, and I seize, with 
pleasure, the opportunity alVordcd me by your letter, 
of discharging ilie obligaiior. 



" As to my motives for tendering to him the De- 
partment of iState when I did, let that man who ques- 
tions them come forward. Let him look around 
among Statesmen and Legislators of this Nation and 
of that day. Let him then select and name the man 
whom, by his pre-eminent talents, by his splendid 
servi(!es, by his ardent patriotism, by his all-embra- 
cing public spirit, by his fervid eloquence in behalf 
of the rights and liberties ol mankind, by his long 
experience in the atVairsofthe Union, foreign and 
domestic, a President of the United States, intent 
only upon the honor and welfare of his country, ought 
to have preferred to Henky Clay. Let him name 
the man, and then judge you, my fellow-citizens, of 
my motives." 

During his visit to tlie West in the fall of 1843, 
Mr. Adams confirmed this denial in the strongest 
terms, which it is possible for tlie human tongue to 
employ. 

" I thank you, sir," said he, in his speech at Mays- 
ville, (Ky.) " for the opportunity you have given me 
' of speaking of the great Statesman who was asso- 
' ciated with me in the administration of the General 
' Government, at my earnest solicitation — who be- 
' longs not to Kentucky alone, but to the whole Un- 
' ion; and is not only an honor to this State and this 
' Nation, but to mankind. The charges to which you 
' refer, I have, after my term of service had expired, 
' and it was proper for me to speak, denied before 
' the whole country ; and I here reiterate and reaf- 
'■ firm that denial ; and as I expect shortly to appear 
' before my God, to answer for the conduct of my 
' whole life, should those charges have found theip 
' icay to the Throne of Eternal Justice, I will, in 
'the presence of Omnipotence, pronounce 
'them false." 

In his address at Covington, (Ky.) Mr. Adams 
said, in allusion to the hospitalities, which he had 
met with: "Not only have I received invitations 
' from public bodies and cities, but also from indivi- 
' duals, among the first of whom was that great man, 
' your own citizen, who, during a very large portion 
'of my public life, and in various public capacities, 
' and in several instances in matters relating to your 
' interests, has been my associate and friend, and the 
' recollection of whom, brings me to the acknowledg- 
' ment, before this whole assembly, that in all the 
'various capacities in which I have known him to 
' act, whether as associate, as assistant, or acting in- 
' dependently of me, in his own individual character 
' and capacity, I have ever found him not only one of 
' the ablest men with whom I have ever co-operated, 
' but also of the most amiable and worthy."* 

We have but imperfectly sketched the history of 
the flagitious measures which were adopted to blast 



* Mr. Adams, of whom itcoiild be said, "use cannot mar, 
nor custom stale his intinite variety," always retained his 
exalted estimate of Mr Clay's patriotism and statesmanship, 
and was his ardent supporter for the Presidency in lb44- 
A Washington correspondent of that year wrote : 

" I have frequently otiserved Indies' nl'jnnisoireulnting through 
tlie House ami Sfnuie Clmiiiber. wilh the view (jf collecting tlie 
autographs of the Memhcry. ( liie thi- inomiii!.', belonging to a 

young lady of , allrsicted <-(iiisi<lrrahle nUciili<jii. Upon ex- 

aiiiiiihtiori. I fdiind it runtuiiiiMi m pii^'c i>f well written poetry, 
dated 23il .July, isqii. in the treirul.ms liiuul u riling of John a. 
Adams. Tliis pjii-,^ was descriptive of ihc wild cliiuw at pres-cnt 
spread over our political all'airs, and uutiiipaled coining evenls 
which would bring order out ofdisorder. Tlie closing verse was 
as follows : 

Pay, for whose hrow this Iniirel crown "? 
For whom tliis weh of life is spinning .' 
Turn tJiis, thy Album, upside down. 
And take tiie end tor tlie beginning.' 
" The meaning of this was somewhat mystical, but by turning 
ti: the back of the hook, and inverting it, on its lu-st page a piece 
wus found with the signature of H. Clay 1" 



Opposition to Mr. Adams's Administration— Mr. Clay's Labors as Secretary of State 41 



the political reputation of Mr. Clav and break down 
the Administration, of which he was the main orna- 
ment and support. To the future historian we leave 
the task of commenting, in adequate terms of repro- 
bation, upon the conduct of those unprincipled men 
who originated the slander, and continued to circu- 
late it long after it had been proved to be utterly 
ungrounded. That it answered the purpose for 
which it was intefided; tliat it was the most efficient 
instrument employed to trammel and defeat Mr. 
Adams's Administration there can now be little 
doubt. The recklessness and audacity with which 
it was persisted in until it had served its e«d,— the 
conduct of Mr. Kremer, as he vacillated between 
bis good impulses and the party ties by which he 
■was fettered,— and subsequent developments, still 
fresh in the remembrance of many of our readers, 
showed that the promulgation of the calumny was 
the result of a regularly planned conspiracy. 

We refer those who would satisfy themseUes of 
this fact, as well as of the sufficiency of the proofs 
by which this ' measureless lie ' was overwhelmed, 
to the proceedings in the House of Representatives, 
instituted at Mr. Clay's instance in February, 1825 ;— 
to the subsequent letterof Carter Beverley, detailing 
a conversation at General Jackson's;— to Mr. Clay's 
Letter to the Public, challenging his enemy to pro. 
duce his testimony ;— to Gen. Jackson's surrender 
of the name of Mr. Buchanan as the "distinguished 
Member of Congress" upon whose authority the 
charge of corruption was reiterated against Mr. 
Clay;— to Mr. Buchanan's complete and decided 
disclaimation of any intention on his part of ever 
giving countenance to the charge ;— to Mr. Clay's 
pamphlets, published in 1827-8, embodying a mass 
of testimony disproving the charge ;— to Mr. Bucha- 
nan's statements on the floor of the House of Repre- 
sentatives and the Senate, avowing his disbelief of 
tlie charge ;— and finally to Carter Beverley's letter, 
published in 1841, repudiating the calumny as desti- 
tute of the slightest foundation in truth, and making 
such atonement as he could for having given cur- 
rency to it in his letter of 1825.* 

We might refer farther to Thomas H. Benton's 
declaration, who in a letter dated December 7, 1827, 
proves not only that Mr. Clay's bitterest opponents 
considered him innocent of the charge, but that be- 
fore Confess had convened — before the Presidential 
election took place in that body — Mr. Clay had dis- 
closed his intention to vote for Mr. Adams, not only 
to Mr. B., but to others.- See Nat. Int., Apr. 25, '44. 

Rarely has an Administration been subjected to 
an opposition so unrelenting, so vindictive and so 
determined as that which assailed the Presidency of 
John Quincy Adams. The motives of that opposi- 
tion appear to have been purely selfish and merce- 
nary ; for the policy of Mr. Adams resembled that 
of liis predecessor, whose Secretary of State he had 
been, and it was little calculated to call down a viru- 
lent hostility. In his views of the powers of the 
General Government he was more liberal than Mr. 
Monroe. He was friendly to the American System 
of Internal Improvement and Protection, which had 
been so ably vindicated by Mr. Clay ; and all his 

* AU these documents may be found in Niles's Register. We 
rpcret that our limits will not permit us to expose, in its tuil de- 
formity, the whole of this nefarious plot against Mr. C lay. I hat 
man must presume greatly upon the ignorance ol the I ublic. 
However, who would at tlus day venture to revive the exunct lie. 



measures were conceived in a truly generous, re- 
publican and patriotic spirit. 

A great clamor was most unjustly rai.sed about 
the expenses of his Administration. At this day tlie 
iniquity of this charge is so apparent as to render it 
unworthy a serious confutation. It becomes in- 
deed laughable when placed side by side with the 
list of Presidential expenditures under Mr. Van Bu- 
ren. In tlie distribution of his official patronage Mr. 
Adams appears to have been actuated by the purest 
and most honorable motives. Not a single removal 
from office on political grounds was made by his 
authority ; and in no one instance does he seem to 
have been impelled by considerations of .self-inter- 
est or with a view to ultimate personal advantage. 

The circumstances under which he came into of- 
fice, however, were a continual source of uneasi- 
ness to the friends of Jackson and Crawford; and 
his Administration, able and honorable to the coun- 
try as it was, was constantly assailed. John Ran- 
dolph, who had now a seat in the Senate, was espe- 
cially bitter and personal in his denunciations. The 
eccentricities of that extraordinary man induced 
many persons to believe that he was partially de- 
ranged in his intellect. His long, desultory and 
immethodical harangues were a serious impediment 
to legislative business, while his elfish taunts and 
reckless assaults upon individuals were so frequent, 
tliat he seemed at length to have arrived at the con- 
clusion that he enjoyed superior immunities in de- 
bate — that he was, in fact, " a chartered libertine." 
In one of the numerous discussions upon the Pana- 
ma Mission, he took occasion to animadvert in the 
most offensive manner upon the conduct of Mr. Clay, 
and denounced the harmony existing between the 
Secretary of State and the President as a "coali- 
tion of Blifil and Black George ;" a combination of 
" the Puritan with the Black-leg." 

When called upon by Mr. Clay to explain or re- 
tract these expressions, he refused. A hostile meet- 
ing consequently ensued between them on the Bih 
of April, 1826. After two ineffectual fires it result- 
ed in the reconciliation of the parties — John Ran- 
dolph having given additional evidence, by his con- 
duct and appearance on the occasion, that his eccen- 
tricity, if it did not border on insanity, was separa- 
ted from it by a very slight partition. 

The last interview between Mr. Clay and Mr. 
Randolph was on the 2d or 3d of March, 1833, a 
few weeks before Mr. R's death, when he was oa 
his way to Philadelphia, where he died. He came 
to the Senate Chamber, unable to stand or walk 
without assistance. The Senate was in session by 
candle-light, and Mr. Clay had risen to make some 
observations on the Compromise Act. " Help me 
up," said Mr. Randolph, sitting in a chair, and 
addressing his half-brother, Mr. B. Tucker; "/ 
have come here to hear that voice." As soon aa 
Mr. Clay had concluded his remarks, he went to 
Mr. Randolph, and they cordially shook hands and 
exchanged salutations. 

The health of Mr. Clay during the whole period 
of his residence at Washington, as Secretary of 
State, was exceedingly unfavorable — so much eo, 
that at one time he had fully determined to resign 
the office. He was persuaded, however, to remain ; 
and, notwithstanding the depressing influence upon 
mental and physical exertion of bodilv iofirmi 



42 



Life of Henry Clay. 



ty,he discharged tlie complicate and laborious duties 
of the Seoretarvsliii) with a fidelity aud efficipncy 
that have never been surpassed. In the records of 
his labors, in his ini<tructions to Ministers, and his nu- 
merous letters upon subjects of foreign and domes- 
tic concern, the archives of the State Department 
contain a lasting monument to his transcendent 
abilities as a statesman and his indefatigability as a 
public officer. 

One of the ablest state papers in the diplomatic 
annals of the United States is the letter of instruc- 
tions of Mr. Clay to the Delejration to Panama. The 
story of this Mission niay be briedy told. A Con- 
gress was proposed to be held at Panama or Tacu- 
baya, to be composed of Dele};ate3 from the Repub- 
lics of Mexico, Colombia and Central America, to 
deliberate on subjects of importance to all, and in 
which the welfare and interest of all might be in- 
volved. The threatening aspect of the Holy Alli- 
ance towards the free Governments of the new world 
had induced the late President, IVIonroe, to declare 
that the United States would not view with indif- 
ference any interference on tlieir part in the contest 
between Spain and her former Colonies ; and the 
Governments of the new Republics were naturally 
led to suppose that our own was friendly to the ob- 
jects proposed in the contemplated Congress. In 
the Spring of 1825, invitations v/ere given on tlie 
part of Colombia, Mexico and Central America to 
the United States to send Commissioners to Pa- 
nama. 

In reply to this proposition, coming from the Min- 
isters of those powers at Washington, Mr. Claj' 
said, that before such a Congress met, it appeared 
to him expedient to adjust, as preliminary matters, 
the precise objects to which the attention of the 
Congress would be directed, and the substance and 
the form of the powers of the Ministers representing 
the several Republics. This suggestion called forth 
answers, which were not considered as sufliciently 
precise; but still to manifest the sensibility of the 
United States to what concerned the welfare of Ame- 
rica, and to the friendly feelings of the Spanish Ame- 
rican States, the President determined to accept 
their invitations, and to send Ministers with the con- 
sent of the Senate. 

In March, 1829, a call having been made in the 
Senate for copies of the instructions given to our 
Ministers at Panama, Mr. Adams transmitted them, 
and they were soon afterwards published, notwith- 
standing a rancorous attempt on the part of the op- 
position to prevent their appearance ; so creditable 
were they to the Administration that was going out 
of power, and to Mr. Clay, their author; and so 
completely did tliey refute the slanders, which had 
l>een propapated in connection with the Mission. 
Few state papers in the archives of the Govern- 
ment will compare, in point of ability, with this let- 
ter of instructions of Mr. Clay. It was, perhaps, 
the most elaborate paper prepared by him whilst in 
the Department of State. The liberal principles of 
commerce and niivigation, which it proposed ; the 
securities for neutral and mariiime rights, which it 
sought; the whole system of international and Ame- 
rican policy, which it aimed to establish ; and the 
preparatory measures, which it recommended, for 
uniting the two Ocean$ by a Canal, constitute i 



one of the boldest, most original, comprehensive and 
statesman-like documents on record. 

Another masterly paper from the pen of Mr Clay 
is his letter of May, 1825, to our Minister at St. 
Petersburgh, Mr. Middleton, instructing him to en- 
gage the Russian Government to contribute its best 
exertions toward terminating the contest then exist- 
ing between Spain and her Colonies. The appeal 
was not in vain. Through Mr. Clay's exertions, 
the policy of recognizing the Independence of 
Greece, and sending a Minister to that country, was 
also at length acquiesced in ; and the effect of that re- 
cognition — the first she had experienced — in rousing 
the spirit of the struggling nation, is a matter of 
history. 

The number of Treaties negotiated by Mr. Clay 
at the Seat of the General Government is greatest 
than that of all which had ever been previously 
concluded there from the first adoption of the Con- 
stitution. His Diplomatic experience — his attract- 
ive maimers — his facile and unceremonious mode of 
transacting business, rendered him a favorite with 
the Foreign Ministers at Washington, and enabled 
him to procure from them terms the most advan- 
tageous to the Country. During his incumbency 
as Secretary, he concluded and signed Treaties 
with Colombia, Central America, Denmark, Prussia 
and the Hanseatic Republic ; and effected a nego- 
tiation with Russia for the settlement of the claims 
of American citizens. He also concluded a Treaty 
with Austria, but did not remain in oflSce to aee it 
signed. 

His letters to Mr. Gallatin, our Minister at Lon- 
don, in relation to the trade between the United 
States and the British Colonies, are documents of 
extraordinary interest and value, which ably advo- 
cate a durable and obligatory arrangement by Treaty 
in preference to other modes of settlement. His let- 
ters to the same functionary, on the Navigation of 
the St. Lawrence, and to our Charge at London, 
relative to the North-Eastern Boundary, exhibit 
much research, and a sagacious, enlightened and 
truly American spirit. Never was the Diplomacy 
of the Country so efficiently and creditably con- 
ducted as when under the charge of Henry Clay. 

It has been justly said that no policy could be 
more thoroughly atiti-European, and more com- 
pletely American, than that of Mr. Adams's Admin- 
istration. He would exclude all farther European 
colonization from the American Continent ; all in- 
terference of European Monarchs, especially those 
of the miscalled Holy Alliance, in American poli- 
tics ; he would render his own country, essentially, 
independent of European work-shops, by fostering 
American Arts, Manufactures and Science, and 
would strengthen her power, by rendering her force 
more available through the instrmentality of Inter- 
nal Improvements. To these objects his efforts 
were directed. 

Mr. Clay had long been tire acknowledged head 
of the Democratic Pai-ty; tlie most vigorous, elo- 
quent and consistent champion of their principles, 
and we may add, that such he has ever continued. 
In eiving his vote for Mr. Adams, he believed — and 
events justified his belief— that he would secure to 
the Country an Administration attached to the same 
leading policy that bad characterized the Adminis- 
trations of 31adison and Monroe, with this additional 



The West India Trade — Who are the Federalists. 



43 



advantage: ihat it would be d-ccidcdly friendly to 
those great measures of Protection and Internal 
Improvement, of tcliich he had been the early and 
persevering' advocate. But the elements of oppo- 
sition, which had remained inactive during die 
eight years of Mr. Monroe's Presidency, began to 
form and lonibiiic against his successor almost be- 
fore he was ' warm in his chair.' The character of 
these elemMits was somewliat heterogeneous; and 
the partisan managers were long puzzled to find 
some principles of cohesion in their opposition. 
The policy of iMr. Adams upon all important ques- 
tions coiriciilcd with that of the majority, and was 
sanctioned !'V the example of his great Democratic 
predecessors. At the commencement of his term 
of office, he had declared his intention to follow that 
example in the general outlines. He made it a rule 
to remove no man from office except for official mis- 
conduct, and to regard, in the selection of candi- 
dates for vacancies, only their moral and intellectual 
qualifications. He thus voluntarily relinquished the 
support which he might have derived from Execu- 
tive patronage, and placed the success of his Ad- 
ministration simply upon the merit of its principles 
and its measures. What possible ground of oppo- 
sition, therefore, could be discovered or invented ? 
" No matter : his Administration viust be put 
down; " for an army of aspirants and office-seekers 
were in the field. In the words of one of the most 
distinguished of General Jackson's supporters, the 
Administration must be put down, " though as pure 
as the angels at the right hand of God." 

Such being the tone of feeling among the Oppo- 
sition, it is not a matter of surprise that die weapons 
employed aj^ainst Mr. Adams and his friends were 
of a character directly the opposite of ' angelic' 
In the first place, a gross and utterly unfounded 
charge of corruption was brought against the Presi- 
dent and the Secretary of State. We have seen 
how utterly exploded, by the most positive and 
overwhelming testimony, that miserable slander has 
been. Charges of extravagance were then made 
against the Government ; and a paltry bill for 
crockery and furniture for the White House was 
magnified into an accusation against the plain, 
frugal and unassuming IVir. Adams of an intention 
to ape the extravagance and splendor of European 
Potentates. The ordinary and established expen- 
ditures of the Government were examined with new 
and unexampled rigor, for the purpose of producing 
the belief that they originated with the Administra- 
tion ; and an assertion on his part of the President's 
Constitutional right to appoint, in the vacation of 
Congress, Diplomatic Agents to transact the Foreign 
business of the Country was construed into an 
usurpation of a new and unconstitutional power. 

It having been discovered that the Secretary of 
State had, in some ten or dozen cases, transferred 
the employment of publitililug the Laws from one 
Printing Esiaolisliment to another, a great clamor 
was raised about an attempt to corrupt the 
Press. The Secretary was charged with selecting 
the papers for political and personal objects ; and a 
Resolution was offered, in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, requiring him to communicate the 
changes which had been made, and his reasons 
therefor. But, on its being discovered that the 
House had no jurisdiction of the case, the inquiry 



was dropped. By way of showing the consistency 
of the Opposition, at the very time the detachment 
in the House were arraigning Mr. Clay for changing 
the publication of the Laws from one newspaper to 
another, their brethren in the Senate, under the 
guidance of Mr. Van Buren, were engaged in the 
atten)pt to deprive the National Intelligencer of the 
Printing of that body ! 

Shortly before the termination of the Second 
Session of the Nineteenth Congress, Mr. F'loyd of 
Virginia announced to the public that the 'com- 
binations ' for eflccting the elevation of General 
Jackson were nearly complete. During the Ses- 
sion, symptoms of the coalition began to appear; 
and on several ipiestions an organized opposition 
was inadn manifest. Of these, we need oidy enu- 
merate tlie Bankrupt Act, die bills ibr the gradual 
improvement of the Navy, authorizing Dry Docks 
and a Naval School, the appropriations for Surveys 
and Internal Improvement, the Controversy between 
Georgia and the General Government respecting tlie 
Creek Treaty, the bills to augment die Duty on im- 
ported Woollens, and closing the Ports of die 
United States against British vessela from the 
Colonies, after a limited period. 

Widi regard to the Colonial Bill, the conduct of 
the succeeding Administration upon the subject of 
the West India Trade may make a brief outline of 
facts not inappropriate in tViis place. At the first 
session of the Nineteenth Congress, a bill was intro- 
duced into the Senate to accejit, as far as practica- 
ble, the terms proposed by the British Acts of 1825, 
regulating the intercourse of Foreign Powers with 
her West India Islands. Owing to the long and in- 
terminable debates for political effect in that body at 
that session, the bill was not passed, and in the va- 
cation the British Government interdicted the trade. 
The next session, measures of retaliation were pro- 
posed, but no definite steps were taken until the 
close of the session ; and by a disagreement betweeo 
the two Houses, the bill was lost, and the Execu- 
tive was compelled to close our ports abruptly with- 
out any conditions. The manner in v.'hich Mr. Van 
Buren afterwards, when Secretary of State, availed 
kimself of this fact, to disparage the administration 
of Mr. Adams before the British Ministry and Na- 
tion, is well known ; and the mendicant appeals 
which, in his instructions to our Minister at the 
Court of St. James, he directed to be made to the 
English negotiators, remain a stigma on the diplo- 
macy of the United States. The West India Trade 
was a fair and proper subject of convention between 
the two countries, to be settled on the basis of mu- 
tual rights and reciprocal interests. The honor of 
our country forbade any other course. If England 
would pot deign to treat on this subject, it was not 
for us to coax her haughty Ministers into concession 
by legislative enactments. Such was the elevated 
and patriotic view of the subject taken by Mr. Clay. 
Directly opposite were the view afterwards token, 
and the course adopted, by Mr. Van Buren. 

As Mr. Adams's administration drew to a close, it 
began to be apparent that it was not destined to a 
second terra. The strongest appeals were made to 
the sectional feelings of the Western States in be- 
half of the candidate of the Opposition; and these 
appeals were but too successful. In the various 
sections of the Union, opposite reasons were urged 



44 



Life of Henry Clay. 



with eft'ect against the Administration. New-York 
and Pennsylvania were operated upon by an asser- 
tion, industriously circulated, that General Jackson 
was the candidate of the Democracy of the country, 
and this impression contributed to create a strong 
party in the States of Maine and New-Hampshire. 
Nothing could be more untrue than the assertion. 
Many of the leaders of tlie old Federal party were 
the most ardent jiersonal opponents of Jlr. Adams, 
and became the most effective enemies of his Admin- 
istration. These men might afterwards be heard 
claiming to be the orthodox Democratic party, and 
denouncing Henrj' Clay — the early opponent of the 
Alien and Sedition Laws — the friend and supporter 
of Jefferson's administration — the main pillar of Ma- 
dison's — and the most active originator and advocate 
of the Last War — as a Federalist ! 

The truth is that it has fared with the principles 
of Federalism as with its men. Li the time of Mr. 
Monroe there was a general blending of parties. A 
new and distinct formation, on grounds at first pure- 
ly personal, was made during the administration of 
Gen. Jackson. As soon as there was a division on 
principles, the worst part of the old Federalists — 
some of the most bitter and envenomed — the black 
cockade gentry, who had passed their younger years 
in writing pasquinades on Mr. Jefferson's breeches, 
and had been in the habit of thanking Heaven that 
they had " no Democratic blood in their veins" — 
went over to Gen. Jackson, and carried with them a 
spirit of ultraism, ay, and of ultra-Federalism, which 
was developed in the Protest, and Proclamation, and 
many of the leading measures of his Administration. 
The more moderate, prudent and patriotic joined 
with the Democratic party, and formed the great 
Whig party of the country. The ultras of the old 
parties coalesced, and tlie combination was natu- 
rally Tory* 

Upon the assembling of the Twentieth Congress, 
it was ascertained, by the election of the Speaker, 
that a majority of the House was opposed to the 
Administration ; and this victory was soon followed 
by such an accession from those w ho were uncom- 
mitted in the Senate as to give a majority to the 
same paity in that body. Thenceforward the Ad- 
ministration was not allowed, of course, a fair trial ; 
and every question was discussed with a view to 
political effect. 

* In one of the skirmisJies between Mr. Clay and Mr. Callioun, 
during the Sub-Treasury discussion, Mr. Clay took up, nmong 
otlier topics, this question of Federalism. Mr. Calhoun had al- 
luded to the friends of his opponent as members of the Federal 
party. " Sir," said Mr. Clay, " I am ready to go into an exami- 

■ nation with the honorable Senator at any time, and then we 
' shall see if there are not more members of that same old Federal 
' party amongst those whom the Senator has so recently joined 

• than on our side of tlie house. The plain truth is, that it ig 
' 'he old Federal partv with who-m he is nine acting. For all 
' the former crounds of difference which distinguLshed that parly, 

■ mid were tlie subjects of contention between them and the Re- 
' publicans, )iave ceased, from lapse of time and change of cir- 

• rumstancci--, vrith the crcrption of uric, and that is the maiiite- 
' nance ard increase nf F.xecutire pmrer. This was a leading 

■ policy of t)ie Federal party. A strong, powerful and energetic 
' Executive was iu< favorite tenet." * * * " I can tell the 
' gentleman that he will find the true old Democratic partv, 
' wlio were for resisting the encroachments of power, and tim- 
' tting F.xecutire patronage, on this side of the Senate, and 
' not tcith his nev allies, the Jackson-Van Buren Democratic 
' rartti, whose leading principle is to sustain the Kifcutire, 
'and deny all power to the Ligislature: and which does not 

hold a solilary principle m common wtthtJte Republican par- 
tv of I'm." 



At length, in the autumn of 1828, the Presidential 
Election took place, and resulted in the choice of 
Andrew Jackson, by one hundred and twenty-eight 
votes in the primary Electoral Colleges, given by 
sixteen States, including Virginia and Georgia, 
which, in the previous Election, had cast their votes 
for Mr. Crawford. Mr. Adams was supported by 
the six New-England States; by New-Jersey, which 
had previously voted against him; by Delaware, 
and sixteen votes from New-York, and six from Ma 
ryland. Mr. Calhoun obtained the same vote for 
Vice President that Gen. Jackson did for President, 
except seven votes in Georgia, which were thrown 
away upon William Smith of South Carolina. Mr. 
Rush received the whole vote of the Administration 
party for Vice President. 

Thus ended the administration of John Quiney 
Adams, during which our domestic and foreign af- 
fairs were never more ably and prosperously con- 
ducted. The foreign policy of the Government had 
oidy in view the maintenance of the dignity of the 
National character, the extension of our Commercial 
Relations, and the successful prosecution of the 
claims of American citizens upon Foreign Govern- 
ments. 

The Domestic policy was no less liberal, active 
and decided ; and never was tliTe a more ground- 
less political libel than that which impeached the 
integrity and economy of that Administration. As 
the charge of extravagance was the argument most 
vehemently urged against Mr. Adams's Administra- 
tion, it may be well in this place to glance at its 
plausibility. The aggregate expenditures of the 
several Administrations from 1789 to 1838, exclusive 
of the Public Debt, and payments tmder Treaty stipu- 
lations, including the expenses and arrearages of the 
last War with Great Britain, were : 
Washington's Administration, 8 vrs. f 15,890,698 55 
John Adams's " 4 " " 21,348,356 19 

Jefferson's " 8 " 41,100,788 88 

Madison's " 8 " 144,684,944 86 

Monroe's " 8 " 99,363,509 64 

J. Q. Adams's " 4 " 49,725,721 26 

Jackson's " 8 » 144,579,847 72 

Total $516,693,867 10 

From this statement it appears that the reformings 
retrenching, economical, Democratic Administration 
of General Jackson, that expressed such a holy hor- 
ror at .Mr. Adams's extravagance, cost the country 
as much as the Administration of Mr. Madison, in- 
cluding the outlays of an expensive War with Great 
Britain. Mr. Van Buren retrenched in the same 
ratio with his predecessor. The first year of his 
Administration cost the People ^33,554,341 — about 
three times the nvern^e anntial e.vpcvditnre of Mr. 
Adams! During the remainder of his term the 
public expenses were in a like proportion. What 
measure of condemnation should be l)estovved upon 
the political hypocrites whose promised reforms and 
retrenchments resulted in such gross profligacy and 
neglect of the public interests ! 

In March, 1829, General Jackson entered upon 
the discharge of his official duties as President. On 
the 14th of the same month, Mr. Clay left Washing- 
ion for his residence in Kentucky. Before quitting 
that city, some of the principal residents, as a part- 
ing tribute of respect, gave him a Public Dinner. 
In his speech on the occasion, he briefly revicwea 
the events, in which he had been an actor, during 



Return to KentucJcy — Remarks on Slavery. 



the preceding four years. He alluded to the serious 
charge against him, which had been brouglit by 
General Jackson, wlio, after summoning liis friend 
and on};/ witness (Mt. Buchanan) to establish it, and 
hearing that witness promptly and unequivocally 
deny all knowledge whatever of any transaction 
that could throw the slightest shade upon the 
character of the accused, maintained a stubborn 
and persevering silence upon the subject, instead of 
magnanimously acknowledging his error and atoning 
for the gross injustice of which he had been guilty. 
" But," said Mr. Clay, " my relations to that citi- 
*zen, by a recent event, are now changed. He is 

* the Chief Magistrate of my Country, invested with 

* large and extensive powers, the administration of 
'which may conduce to its prosperity, or occasion 
'its adversity. Patriotism enjoins, as a duty, that 

* while he is in that exalted station, he should be 
' treated with decorum, and his official acts be judged 
' of in a spirit of candor." 

Such was the patriotic spirit vtith which Mr. Clay 
regarded the elevation of General Jackson, and in 
which he was prepared to judge of the acts of the 
new Administration. 

The political enemies of Mr. Clay were not, how- 
ever, content with misrepresenting his public course. 
They lifted, with a rude and ruffianly hand, the veil 
from his private affairs, and attempted to destroy his 
private credit by charging him with bankruptcy. 
The consequence was the publication of a letter 
from Mr. Clay to Robert Wicklifle, Esq. dated May 
24, 1828, in which the falsehoods of his assailants 
were fully confuted. He admitted that he had 
incurred a heavy responsibility, about ten years 
before, as endorser lor his friends, to which cause 
his temporary retirement from public life and the 
renewal of his professional labors were to be 
attributed. The mortgages upon his Estate did not 
amount to ten thousand dollars, and before the ex- 
piration of the year he hoped there would not remain 
one-fifth of that sum. 

"I have hitherto," says Mr. Clay, in this letter, 
" met all my engagements by the simplest of pro- 
cesses, that of living within my income, punctually 
paying interest when I could not pay principal, and 
carefully preserving my credit. I am not free, ab- 
solutely, from debt. I am not rich. I never coveted 
riches. But my estate would, even now, be estima- 
ted at not much less than one hundred thousand dol- 
lars. Whatever it may be worth, it is a gratification 
for me to know that it is the produce of my own hon- 
est labor — no part of it being hereditary, except one 
slave, who would oblige me very much if he would 
accept his freedom. It is sufficient, after paying all 
my debts, to leave my family above want, if 1 should 
be separated from them. It is a matter also of conso- 
lation to me to know, that this wanton exposure of 
my private affairs can do me no pecuniary prejudice. 
My few creditors will not allow their confidence in me 
to be shaken by it. It has indeed led to one incident, 
which was at the same time a source of pleasure and 
of pain. A friend lately called on me at the instance 
of other friends, and informed me, that they were ap- 
prehensivr; that my private affairs were embarrassed, 
and that I allowed tlieir embarrassment to prey upon 
my mind. He came, therefore, with their authority 
to' tell me, that they would contribute any sum that 
I might want to relieve me. The emotions which 
such a proposition excited can be conceived only by 
honorable men. I felt most happy to be able to un- 
deceive them, and to decliae their benevolent prop- 
osition." 



CHAPTER X. 

Mr. CIny's Return to Kentncky— Triuinpliant Rerpption— Pub 
lie Dinners— Speeches— Mr. Clay and tlie Colonization Socie- 
ty— lli< sontiineiits iin .Sluvery— .'Miolition I'etiuons- Vi-sil to 
New-Orli'uii— .Vatclii'z— Uciinpliinentiiry |{('ri?|)tion by tliB 
I.ouL-iiinii H(iii«fofKfprtvciiluiivo.<— ViMt to Ohio— Dines witli 
the .MchnnicMit Cohihib.is-llis Kle.-uon to llio U.S. Senate 
in 1831— .NdiMiimtion to the I'resuleiicy— The 'I'uritT— Defence 
ot tiie .\niericnn System— Mr. Clay's estimate of the Irish 
character— Reduction of Duties— Letter of T. H. lientoii. 

There are few men, who can bear defeat more 
gracefully, or with more unafl'ected good humor, 
than Mr. Clay. Relieved from his official toils as 
Secretary of State, his health rapidly improved, and 
his fine spirits expanded unchecked. On his journey 
from the seat of Government, previous to his arrival 
at Uniontown in Pennsylvania, the roads being ex- 
tremely bad, he sent his private vehicles ahead and 
took the stage-coach. Finding it disagreeable with- 
in, however, he removed to an outside seat next the 
driver, and, in that situation, entered Uniontown. 
The good people of the place expressed a great dea' 
of surprise at seeing the ex-Secretary in that lofit/, 
and yet humble position. " Gentlemen," replied Mr. 
Clay, " although I am with the onts, yet I can as- 
sure you that the ins behind me have much the worst 
of it." 

On his way to Kentucky, Mr. Clay received con- 
tinual testimonials of the attachment and esteem of 
the people. He was invited to innumerable public din 
ners, but was able to appear only at a few. At Fred- 
erick in Maryland, he made an admirable speech at 
one of these complimentary festivals on the eight- 
eenth of March, 18-29. On the thirty-first of the same 
month he dined with the mechanics at Wheeling, 
whom he addressed principally in relation to the 
American System — Manufactures and Internal Im- 
provements. He reached his home at Ashland, with 
his family, the sixth of April, having been met at 
some distance from Lexington by a large number of 
friends, by whom he was most affectionately received. 
On the 16th of May, a great public dinner was 
given to him at Fowler's Garden by his fellow- 
townsmen. Three thousand sat down at the table ; 
and Mr. Clay spoke for the space of one hour and 
thirty-five minutes ; the following appropriate toast 
having been previously given : " Our •distinguished 
' guest, friend and neighbor, Henry Clay — with in- 
' creased proofs of his worth, we delight to renew 
' the assurance of our confidence in his patriotism, 
' talents and incorruptibility — may health and happi- 
' ness attend him in retirement, and a grateful na- 
' tion do justice to his virtues." 

Mr. Clay's speech on this occasion is one of the 
choicest specimens of his eloquence, being pervaded 
by some of the finest characteristics of his style, al- 
though there is, of course, an absence of those im- 
passioned appeals, which would have been out of 
place. The exordium is full of pathos and beautv. 
He had been separated for four years from his friends 
and neighbors. After devoting the best energies of 
his prime to the service of his country, he had been 
grossly traduced and injured, and his most conspic 
nous traducer had been elevated to the Presidency. 
He had returned home once more ; and now saw be- 
fore him, gathered together to do him honor, to re- 
new their assurances of attachment and confidence, 
sires with whom, for more than thirty years, he had 
interchanged friendly offices— tiieir soaa, grown up 



4S 



Life of Henry Clay- 



during his absence in the public councils, accompa- 
nying them— and all prompted hy ardent atta.;;j- 
raent, surrounding and saluting him as if he belong- 
ed to their own household. 

After alluding in the happiest manner to some of 
these circumstances, JNIr. Clay reviewed briefly the 
course of tlie past Administration — referred to the 
clamor which had been raised against Mr. Adams 
tor proscription — when the fact was, that not a soli- 
tary officer of the Government, from Maine to Lou- 
isiana, was dismissed on account of his political 
opinions, during the whole of Mr. Adams's Admin- 
istration — contrasted this course with that which 
President Jackson commenced so soon after his in- 
stallation — and eloquently pointed out the evil con- 
sequences of the introduction of a tenure of public 
oihce, which depended upon personal attachment 
to tlie Chief Magistrate. 

•^ In concludins: his remarks, Mr. Clay touchingly 
expressed his gratitude to his fellow-citizens of Ken- 
tucky, who had " constantly poured upon him a 
bold and unabated stream of innumerable favors." 
The closing sentences of the speech are in the 
genuine language of the heart which cannot be coun- 
terfeited, and which none can so eloquently employ 
as Henry Clay. " When," said he, " I felt as if I 
' should sink beneath the storm of abuse and detrac- 
' tion, which was violently raging around me, I have 
' found myself upheld arid sustained by your encour- 
' aging voice and your approving smiles. I have 
' doubtless committed many faults and indiscretions, 
' over which you have thrown the broad mantle of 
' your charity. But I can say, and in the presence 
' of my God and of this assembled multitude I will 
' say, that I have honestly and faithfully served my 
' country ; that I have never wronged it ; and that, 
' however unprepared I lament that I am to appear 
' in the Divine Presence on other accounts, I invoke 
' the stern Justice of his judgment on my public 
'conduct, without the smallest apprehension of his 
' displeasure." 

During the Summer and Autumn of 1829 Mr. 
Clay visited several parts of the State of his adop- 
tion, and everywhere he was liailed as a friend and 
public benefactor. On the 17th of December he ad- 
(iressed the Kentucky Colonization Society at Frank- 
fort in a speech, in which he eloquently vindicated 
the policy and character of that benevolent institu- 
tion. He had been an early and constant advocate 
of the system of Colonization. In his speech before 
the American Colonization Society, delivered the 
aOtli of January, 1827, in the Hall of the House of 
Representatives at Washington, we find the follow- 
ing impressive passage : 

" It is now a little upwards of ten years since a 
religious, amiable and bcnevolr-nt resident of this 
city I Mr. Caldwell) first conceived the idea of i)lunt- 
ing a Colony, from the United States, of free peojilc 
of color, on the Western shores of Africa. He is no 
more, and the noblest eulogy which could he jiro- 
nounced on him would be to insciihe upon his tomb, 
the merited enitiiph — ' Here lies the projector of the 
American Colonization Society.' Amongst others, 
to whom he communicated tlie project, was the p> r- 
f.m who now has the honor of addressing you. My 
first impressions, like those of all who luue not 
liilly investigated the subject, were against it. They 
yielded to his taniest per.'juasions and my own re- 



flections, and I finally agreed with him that the ex- 
periment was worthy of a fair trial." 

After presenting in a clear and forcible light the 
project of the Society for the gradual extitiction ot 
Slavery, Mr. Clay remarked in regard to it : " All, 
' or any one, of the States which tolerate Slavery 
' may adopt and execute it, by co-operation or se 
' parate exertion. If I could be instrumental in era- 
' cheating this deepest stain upon the character of our 
' country, and removing all cause of reproach on 
'account of it by foreign nations — If I could o-nly 
' he instrwncnial in ridding ofihisfoui hlot that re- 
' rered State that gave me birth, or that not less he- 
' loved state which kindly adopted .me as her son, I 
' voi/ld not exchange the proud saiisfactimi which I 
' should enjoy for the honor of all the triumphs ever 
' decreed to the most successful conqueror." 

To the system of colonization, we believe, Mr. 
Clay yet looks as a means tor diminishing the pro- 
portion of the black population to the white in the 
Slave States until emancipation would be compati- 
ble with the security and interests of the latter. 

In January, 1830, Mr. Clay made a visit to one of 
his married daughters at New-Orleans. Altbougli 
appearing there as a private citizen, he found it im- 
possible to escape those attentions, which the public 
gratitude sugjrested. He was daily visited by 
crowds of persons, including Members of the Legis- 
lature and Judges of the different Courts. The ship- 
masters, who were in port, waited in a body upon 
him as the champion of Free Trade and Sailors' 
Rights. Declining an invitation to a public dinner, 
he left New-Orleans for Natchez, on his way home> 
the 9th of March. As the boat, in which he had 
embarked, quitted the pier, the scene was of the 
most animated description. The Levee and the tops 
of the steamboats, a great number of which were in 
port, exhibited a crowded and almost unbroken mass 
of spectators, collected to see him and do him honor. 
The shouting multitude, the elevation of flags, and 
the roar of cannons, which burst from the crowd of 
surrounding vessels, as the boat moved off, present- 
ed altogether one of the most imposing spectacles 
that could he imagined. It was a grand civic ova- 
tion, as honorable to the subject of it as any triumph 
which ever greeted a military conqueror. 

At Natchez, persons from all parts of Mississippi 
were waiting to meet him. The press of the crowd 
into the steamboat containing the illustrious visitor 
was so great as to excite alarm; and the mass col- 
lected on the wharf was so dense that much time 
and exertion were required to make way through it. 
Soon after his arrival he accepted a pressing invita- 
tion to a public dinner. A vast concourse assem- 
bled on the occasion. His speech is described as 
unusually felicitous. He was several times obliged 
to stop speaking for some minutes — while the en- 
thusiasm of his hearers exhausted it.self in repeated 
rounds of applause. In the course of his remarks, 
having occasion to allude to the battle of New-Or- 
leans, he paid a generous tribute to Gen. Jackson.. 
Henry Clay never was the man to detract from the 
merits of even his most unrelenting opponents. 

On the twenty-seventh of March, Mr. Clay reach- 
ed Lexington, having declined numerous invitations- 
to public dinners on his route. He had stopped on. 
his way unprenieditatedly at Donaldsonville, (the- 



speech in Cincinna/.i in 1830. 



47 



ntiW Seat of Government of Louisiana,) to see the 
public buildings, and pay his respects to sotne of his 
old friends and acquaintances. Unexpectedly enter- 
ing the hall of the House of Representatives, he was 
immediately recognized, and the whole body, inclu- 
ding the Speaker and Members of all parties, simul- 
taneously rose to receive him. 

In the summer of 1830, having business in the 
.Circuit and District Courts of Ohio, he visited Co- 
luml)us, where he was cordially welcomed by the 
Mechanics, at whose Celebration the following ap- 
propriate Toast was given : 

"Our inestimable guest, Hkney Clay. An effi- 
cient laborer in support of the Industry of the Coun- 
try. Farmers and "Mechanics know how to appre- 
ciate his services." 

His entry into Cincinnati was quite imposing. — 
All classes assembled to welcome his approach. 
He here dined with the Mechanics, and his Speech 
upon the occasion is an eloquent vindication of the 
American System, and a just rebuke of tlie odious 
doctrine of Nullification, which was then beginning 
to be preached in South Carolina and Georgia. 

In the autumn of 1331, ?.Ir. Clay was elected to 
die Senate of the United States by the Legislature 
of Kentucky, by the following vote : — In the Senate, 
Henry Clay, IS ; Richard M. Johnson, 19 ; Warden 
Pope, 1. In the House of Delegates, Clay, 55; 
Johnson, 45. — At tlie first session of the Twenty- 
Second Congress, he presented his credentials, and 
took his seat once more in a body where, twenty-live 
years before, he had made his influence felt and his 
talents respected. 

Contemporaneous with his re-appearance in the 
Senate, was the meeting of the National Republican 
Convention, which assembled at Baltimore on the 
twelfth of December, 1831, and unanimously nomi- 
nated Henry Clay to the office of President of the 
United States, and John Sergeant to that of Vice 
President. 

The subject of the Tariff began to be vehemently 
aj^itated in Congress early in the session of 1831-32. 
The discontent of the South was assuming an alarm- 
ing aspect ; and the system of Protection, which Mr. 
Clay had labored so long and incessantly to estab- 
lish, was threatened with material qualifications, if 
not a complete overtlirow. In that conciliatory 
epirit, which he had manifested on many critical oc- 
casions, lie now approached this exciting topic. On 
the ninth of January, 1832, he introduced a Resolu- 
tion providing that the existing Duties upon articles 
imported from foreign countries, and not coming 
into competition with similar articles made or pro- 
duced within the United States, ought to be forth- 
with abolished, except the Duties upon Wines aijd 
Silks, and that they ought to be reduced ; and that 
the Committee on Finance be instructed to report a 
bill accordingly. This Resolution he sustained in 
fin admirable Speech of about two hours' duration, 
in which he spoke warmly in favor of the mainte- 
nance of the Protective Policy and that of Internal 
Improvement. 

Mr. Hayne followed in reply ; and on the second 
of February, the subject being still under discussion 
before the Senate, Jlr. Clay commenced his ever- 
memorable Speech in d-i-fence of the American Sys- 
tem ag-ainst the British Colonial System. It was 
continued on the next day, and finally completed on 



the sixth of the same month. Such a chain of irre- 
fragable argument as it presents, interlinked with 
facts the most cogent and appropriate, has rarely 
been forged by human ingenuity. It will be refer- 
red to by future statesmen as their political text- 
book, when the Protective Policy is called in quea^ 
tion. 

After an impressive exordium, he alluded to the 
distress of the country after the War. The period 
of greatest distress was seven years previous to the 
3'ear 1824 : the period of greatest prosperity theseven 
years following that act. He then gave a picture of 
the flourishing condition of the country. He main- 
tained that all the predictions of the enemies of the 
Tarifl'in 1824 had been falsified by experience — that 
all the benefits which he had anticipated had been 
realized. He alluded to all the interests now pro- 
tected — all Mechanic Arts — Navigation — Agricul- 
ture—and Manufactures. He argued that the Tarifi" 
began in 1792, which established the great principle 
of Protection. It was the second act of the First 
Congress — sanctioned by the Father of his Country, 
and most of the eminent Statesmen of that day. Mr. 
Clay then traced the history of the subject down to 
181G; commented on the Torjft'of that year, its ob- 
ject, extent and policy; then the Tariff of 1824; the 
amendment of the system in 1828 — the Bill of which 
year was framed on principles directly adverse to 
the declared wishes of the friends of the policy of 
Protection, although the error then perpetrated was 
corrected by subsequent legislation. 

After a graphic description of the beneficial effects 
of the policy, which they were now called upon to 
subvert, Mr. Clay asked what was tlie substitute pro- 
posed by those whose design was the immediate or 
gradual destruction of the American System? The 
reply is as appropriate to the enemies of the System 
now as it was ten years ago. " Free Trade ! — 
' Free Trade ! The call for Free Trade is as una- 

• vailing as the cry of a spoiled child, in his nurse's 
' arms, for the moon or the stars that glitter in the 
' firmament of heaven. It never has existed. It 
' never will exist. Trade implies at least two par- 
' ties. To be free, it should be fair, equal and reci- 
'procal. But if we throw our ports wide open to 
' the admission of foreign productions, free of all 
' duty, what ports, of any other foreign nations, shall 
' we find open to the free admission of our surplus 
' produc-? ? We may break down all barriers to 
' Free Trade, on our part, but they will not be coni- 
'plefe until Foreign Powers shall have removed 
' theirs. There would be freedom on one side, and 
' restrictions, prohibitions and exclusions on tlie 
' other. The bolts and the bars and the chains of 
' all other nations will remain undisturbed." * * 

* * " Gentlemen deceive tliemselves. It is not 
' Free Trade that they are recommending to our ac- 
' ceptance. It is, in effect, the British Colonial 
' Systfm that we are invited to adopt; and, if their 
'^ policy prevail, it will lead, substAintially, Uj'the re- 
' colonizniion of these States, vnder the commercial 
' dominion of Great Britain." 

* " Fair Trade and Snilore' Rights." wns the Tobst given by 
the late Mr. GUmer, the day of the fatal ecciilent on board the 
Princeton. The substitution of a single word illuminates the 
whole subject. A " Fair Trade" k what Mr. Clay bcus alwavB 
aimed to secure lor hie country. 



Life of Henry Clay. 



In die course of liis Speech, Mr. Clay had occa- 
sion to introduce the following remarks upon ihe 
Irish character. They show his high appreciation 
of the worth of an important class of our adopted 
fellow citizens : 

" Of all foreigners, none amalgamate themselves 
BO quicklv with our people as the natives of the 
Emerald Isle. In some of the visions which have 
passed through my imagination, I have 8U|>posed 
that Ireland was, originally, part and parcel of tliis 
Continent, and that, by some extraordinary con- 
vulsion of nature, it was torn from America, and, 
drifting across the ocean, was placed in the un- 
fortunate vicinity of Great Britain. The same 
open-heartedness ; the same generous hospitality ; 
the same careless and uncalculating indifference 
about human life, characterize the inhabitants of 
both countries. Kentucky has been sometimes 
called the Ireland of America. And I have no 
doubt that, if the current of emigration were re- 
versed, and set from America upon the shores of 
Europe, instead of bearing from Europe to America, 
every American emigrant to Ireland would there 
find, as every Irish emigrant here finds, a hearty 
welcome and" a happy home ! " 

On the loth of March Mr. Dickerson, from die 
Committee on Manufactures, reported, in conformity 
with Mr. Clay's resolution, a bill for repealing the 
duties upon certain specified articles of import. The 
bill was opposed at the threshold because it did not 
embrace the whole subject of the Tarifi'; because it 
made no reduction of duties uYion protected articles. 
An animated debute ensued, and the bill was laid 
upon the table. After undergoing numerous modi- 
fications in both Houses, it was finally passed by 
Congress in July, 1832. By this new law, the prin- 
ciples for which Mr. Clay and the rest of the friends 
of Domestic Industry had contended, were pre- 
served. The Revenue was gready reduced, but 
die Protective System remained unimpaired. Of 
Mr. Clay's efforts in die establishment of that Sys- 
tem no one has more impressively spoken than 
Thomas Hart Benton, Senator in Congress from 
Missouri, who, in a Circular signed by him and first 
published in the ' Missouri Intelligencer,' October 
22, 1824, gives utterance to these just and eloquent 
sentiments : 

" The principles which would govern ftlr. Clay's 
Administration, if elected, are well known to the 
Nation. They have been displayed upon the floor 
of Congress for the last seventeen years. They 
constitute a System of American Fomci', based 
on the Agriculture and Manufactures of his own 
country — upon Interior as well as Foreign Com- 
merce — upon Internal as well as Sea-Board Im- 
provement — upon the indejiendence of the New 
World, and close Commercial alliances with Mexico 
and South America. If it is said that others would 
pursue the same system ; we answer, that the 
founder of a System is the natural executor of his 
own work ; that the most efficient protector of 
American Iron, Lead, Hemp, Wool and Cotton 
would be the triumphant champion of the New 
Taritl"; the safest Iriend to Interior Commerce would 
be the Statesman who has proclaimed the Mississippi 
to be the Sea of the West ; the most zealous pro- 
moter of Internal Improvements would be the Presi- 
dent, who has triumphed over the President who 
opposed the construction of National Roads and 
Canals; ihc most successful applicant for Treaties 
with Mexico and South America would be the elo- 
Quetit advocate of their own Independence. 

"THOMAS HART BENTON." 



1 



CHAPTER XI. 

Reception of the Amended TarifT" at the South— Progress of 
NnUiriratioii— Re-election of (Jeneral Jackson— Proclama- 
tion— The Protective fciystem in danger— Tlie Enforcement 
Bill— Perilons state of Afi'airs— Henry Clay comes forward 
with his Plan for a Compromise — (Origin of that Measure— 
Partimlnrs in regard to it— Mr. Clayton of Delaware— Anec- 
dote— Leading INlotives of Mr. Clay— Statement of Hon. 
H. A. S. Dearborn— Passage of the Compromise Bill— Public 
(Jratitude — Characteristics of Mr. Clay's Public Career— Hia 
Visit to New-Englnnd— Triumphal Reception— Honors paid 
to him on his route. 

The amended Tariff was received with little favor 
by the South. Nullification grew daily bolder in its 
denunciations and menaces ; and the Union seemed 
to be greatly in danger. On the 24th of November, 
1832, the South Carolina Convention passed their 
ordinance, declaring the Revenue Laws of the 
United States null and void; and soon afterward 
the Legislature of the State met, ratified the pro- 
ceedings of die Convention, and passed laws for the 
organization of the Militia and the purchase of 
munition and ordnance. 

In the midst of these troubles, the Presidential 
Contest took place, and resulted in the reelection or 
General Jackson over the opposing candidates. 
Henry Clay, John Floyd of Virginia, and William 
Wirt. 

On the 10th of December, 1832, soon after the 
meeting of Congress, President Jackson issued his 
Proclamation, announcing his determination to en- 
force the Revenue Laws, and exhorting the citizens 
of South Carolina to pause in their disorganizing 
career. This remonstrance produced little effect. 
It was followed, on the 20th of the same month, by 
a counter Proclamation from Governor Hayne, 
warning the citizens of South Carolina against the 
attempt of the President to seduce diem from their 
allegiance, and exhorting them, in disregard of his 
threats, to be prepared to sustain the State againsK 
the arbitrary measures of the Federal Executive. 

The Protective System w as at this moment in im 
niinent hazard of being destroyed. General Jack- 
son's Administration was always inimical to that 
policy, originated and principally supported as it 
had been by a hated rival. The Tariff became the 
great question of die session. It was referred to the 
Committee of Ways and Means, where it was re- 
modeled ; and on the 27th of December, a bill was 
reported, which was understood to embody the views 
of the Administration. It proposed a diminution ol 
the duties on all the protected articles, to take effece 
immediately, and a furdier diminution on the 2nd ot 
Miirch, 1834. The subject was discussed from the 
8th to the 16th of January, 1833, when a message 
was received from die President, communicating the 
South Carolina ordinance and nullifying laws, to- 
gether with his own views as to what should be done 
under the existing state of affairs. On the twenty- 
first of the same month, die Judiciary Committee of 
the Senate reported a bill to enforce the collection 
of the revenue, where any obstructions were oflered 
to the officers employed in that duty. 

The aspect of affairs was now alarming in the ex- 
treme. The administration party in tJie House had 
shown itself utterly incapable of devising a tariff 
likely to be accepted by a majority of that body. 
The session was rapidly drawing to a close. South 
Carolina had deferred the period of its collision with 
. the General Government in the hope that some mea.- 



The Compromise Act — Mr. Clay's Exertions — Mr. Clayton. 



49 



s:ireof adjustment would be adopted by Congress. 
This hope seemed to be daily growing fainter. 
Should the enforcing bill not be carried into efiect 
against the NuJlifiers, the Tariff was still menaced 
by the Federal administration, avowedly hostile to 
the protective system. 

At this juncture, Henry Clay, deeply impressed 
witli the importance of the crisis, stepped forward 
to reconcile conflicting interests, and to avert the 
direful consequences which would result from the 
farther delay of an adjustment. On the eleventh of 
February he introduced his celebrated Compkomise 
Bill, providing for a gradual reduction of duties 
until 184^, when 20 per cent, at a home valuation 
should be the rate, " until otherwise regulated by 
♦law." 

Mr. Clay introduced this bill with some pertinent 
and impressive remarks, in which he deplored the 
distracted and portentous condition of the country, 
and appealed strongly to the patriotism and good 
sense of Congress to apply a remedy. The bill 
underwent a long and vehement discussion. None 
could deny the purity and loftiness of the motives 
which had led to its presentation ; but it was vehe- 
mently opposed by many. Mr. Smith, of Maryland, 
opposed it, because " it contained nothing but pro- 
' tection from beginning to end." Mr. Forsyth ex- 
ulted over the admission, which had been made by 
Mr. Clay, that " the Tariff' was in danger." " It is," 
said Mr. F., " at its last gasp — no hellebore can cure 
' it." The Southern members opposed the bill mainly 
because it provided for a home valuation. 

Towards the close of the debate, a personal dif- 
ficulty arose between Mr. Poindexer, of Mississippi, 
and Mr. Webster. The former, in the course of his 
reply to a very powerful attack from Mr. Webster 
upon the Compromise Bill of Mr. Clay, made refer- 
ence to the course of Mr. W., during the war of 
1812. Mr. Webster declmed all explanation, and 
Mr. Poindexter immediately declared that he " felt 
•the most perfect contempt for the Senator from 
•Massachusetts." Mr. Clay interfered, with his 
usual generosity, and in a few remarks, complimen- 
tary alike to both Senators, eflected a mutually sat- 
isfactory explanation. 

Mr. Clay had conceived the idea of the Compro- 
mise in Philadelphia in December, 1832, when he 
was passing a few weeks with his brother-in-law, 
tlie late James Brown, Esq. who had fixed his res- 
idence in that city, after his mission to France. The 
reelection of Gen. Jackson to the Presidency had 
been made known the month before, and Mr. Clay 
had commenced his journey from Ashland to Wash- 
ington not in the best spirits but resolved to do his 
duty. Jackson's power was then at its zenith. He 
had vetoed the charter of the Bank of the United 
States. He was triumphantly reelected. His pow- 
er seemed resistless. Nevertheless, Mr. Clay was 
resolved to fight on, and to fight to the last. 

He believed the President insincere in his profes- 
sions of attachment to the Protective policy ; that, 
under the delusive name of a judicious Tai'ifi, he 
concealed the most deadly and determined hostility 
to the Protection of American Industry. Mr. Clay 
saw the partisans of "free trade" supporting Gen. 
Jackson, with the greatest zeal; and knetd that some 
of them counted upon subverting the whole system 
through the povrer and influence of that arbitrary 



chief magistrate. He saw many of the members of 
Congress from States known to be friendly to the 
preservation of that policy, yet willing to go secret- 
ly, if not openly, as far as they dared go in asserting 
the overthrow of that policy 

In the mean time Nullification had assumed a 
threatening aspect. The supporters of that heresy 
had gone so far that, if no change in the Tariff' took 
place, they must fight or be forever disgraced. Mr. 
Clay thought that if a Civil War were once begun 
it might extend itself to all the Southern States, 
which, although they did not approve of Nullilica- 
tion, would probably not be willing to stand by and 
see South Carolina cruslicd for extreme zeal in a 
cause, which was common to them all. 

Such were the circumstances, under v^ich, dur- 
ing the leisure Mr. Clay enjoyed with his friend, 
Mr. Brown, in Philadelphia, he directed his mind 
to the consideration of some healing scheme for the 
existing public troubles. 

The terms of the Compromise Act substantial^. 
as it passed, were the result of Mr. Clay's reflec- 
tions at that time. He communicated them to his 
friend, the lamented Senator Johnston, from Louis- 
iana, who concurred with him heartily. A Com- 
mittee of Manufacturers, consisting of Messrs. Bo- 
vie, Dupont, Richards and others, waited on Mr. Clay 
in Philadelphia, to consult with him on the impend- 
ing dangers to the Protective policy. To them he 
broached his scheme, and they approved it. He 
mentioned it to Mr. Webster in Philadelphia, but 
that distinguished Senator did not agree with him. 
On leaching Washington, Mr. Clay communicated 
it to many practical Manufacturers, ■ to Hezekiah 
Niles, Mr. Simmons of the Senate, from Rhode Is- 
land, and others. They agreed with him ; and every 
practical Manufacturer of that day with whom hs 
conversed (except Mr. Ellicolt, of Maryland,) assent- 
ed to the project. Most of their friends in Congress, 
especially in the Senate, followed iheir example. 
The chief opposition, it was thought, was to be 
traced to Mr. Webster and gentlemen who had a 
great deference for the opinion of die Massachusetts 
Senator. 

Mr. Clay's own convictions being thus strength- 
ened by the opinions of practical men, he resolved 
to proceed. He had no interviews with Southern 
Members on the subject of the contemplated propo- 
sal, until he had prepared and was about to submit 
the bill ; at which time, he had one or two inter- 
views with Mr. Calhoun, at Mr. Clay's lodgings. 
But through his friend, Governor Letcher of Ken- 
tucky, who was intimate with Mr. McDuffie and 
other Southern gentlemen, Mr. Clay ascertained 
their views. He found one highly favorable state 
of feeling — that tliey were so indignant with Gen- 
eral Jackson for his Proclamation, and his determi- 
nation to put down the Nullifiers by force if neces- 
sary, that they greatly preftr red the difficulty shauld 
be settled rather by Mr. Clay than by the Adminin- 
tratian. 

Mr. J. M. Clayton of Delaware entered with great 
zeal into the views of Mr. Clay, and seconded his 
exertions with untiring, able, constant and strenu- 
ous endeavors. Often he would say to him, look- 
ing at Mr. Calhoun and other members from South 
Carolina, " Well, Clay, these are clever fellows, and 
it won't do to let old Jackson hang them. We must 



&0 



Life of Henry Clay. 



save them if possible." Mr. Clayton belonged to a j 
■mess of seren or eight Senators, every one of whom 
was interesteil in the preservation of the protective 
policy. Without their votes, it was impossible that 
the Compromise should pass. They, through Mr. 
Clayton, insisted upon the home valuation, as a 
sine qua 7ion, from which they would never depart. 
]Mr. Clay told them that he w ould not give it up ; 
and the Compromise Bill never could have passed 
wj'hout that feature of it. 

The Southern Senators had declared that they 
would be content with whatever would satisfy the 
.South Carolina Senators. Mr. Calhoun had mani- 
fested strong objections to the home valuation. Mr. 
Clay told him that he must concur in it, or the 
rneasure would be defeated. Mr. Calhoun appeared 
very reluctant to do so ; and Mr. Clay went to the 
Senate on the day when the Bill was to be decided, 
uncertain as to what its fafte would be. When the 
bill was taken up, Mr. Calhoun rose in his place 
and agreed to tlte home valuation, evidently, how- 
ever, with reluctance. 

Two great leading motives operated with Mr. Clay 
in bringing forward and supporting his measure of 
Compromise. The first was, that he believed the 
whole protective policy to be in the most imminent 
peril from the influence of Gen. Jackson and the 
dominion of his party. He believed that it could not 
possibly survive that session of Congress or the next, 
which would open with a vast increase of that influ- 
ence and power. He had seen the gradual but in- 
sidious efforts to undermine the policy, soinetimes 
openly avowed, frequently craftily concealed. He 
had seen that a bill was actually introduced by Mr. 
Verplanck, and then pending in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, which would have utterly subverted the 
whole policy. He knew, or believed^ that tJiere 
was a majority in the House, willing, altiiough afraid 
to pass the bill. Witnessing the progress of that 
party, he did not doubt, that at the next session at 
least, they would acquire strength and courage suf- 
ficient to pass the bill. He could not contemplate 
the ruin, distress and destruction, which would en- 
sue from its passage, without feelings of horror. 
He believed that the Compromise would avert these 
disasters, and secure adequate protection until the 
30th June, 1842. And he hoped, that in the mean 
time the public mind would become enlightened, and 
reconciled to a policy, which he liad ever believed 
essential to the national prosperity. But far iJie 
partial experiments, uhich uere made upon the cur- 
rency of the country, leading to the utmost disorder 
inthe eu^changes, and the business of society, it is yet 
the belief of Mr. Clay and his friends, that the mea- 
sure of Protection secured by the Compromise Act 
up to the 'Mst December, 1841, would have enabled 
our Manufacturers to have floutished and pros- 
pered. 

Another leading motive with Mr. Clay, in pro- 
posing the Compromise, was to restore harmony, 
and preserve the Union from danf^er ; to arreit a 
cieil tear, which, heginr^tng with South Carolina., 
he feared might spread throughout all the Southern 
States. 

It may be added, that a third and powerful mo- 
tive, which he felt intensely, although he did not 
always avow it, was an invincible repugnance to 
placing under the commaiid of General Jackson 



such a vast military poteer as might be 7iecessa'nf 
to enforce the laws and put down any resistance to 
them in South Carolina, and which might extend 
tie kneie not where. He could not think, without 
the most serious apprehensions, of entrusting a man 
of his vehement passions with such an immense 
power. He could not think without feelings of in- 
describable dread, of the effusion of blood, the dan- 
ger to the Union, and the danger to the liberties of 
all of lis, which might arise from the application of 
such a force in the hands of a man already too pow- 
erful, and fluslied with recent victory. 

It may be farther added, that Mr. Clay thought he 
perceived, with some a desire to push matters to ex- 
tremity. He thought he beheld a disposition to see 
South Carolina and the South punished. Indeed 
the sentiment was more than once expressed to him : 
■' Let them put down the Tariff— let them bring ruin, 
' embarrassment and distress on the country — the 
' country will rise with renewed vigor. We shall 
' have the policy, which we wish to prevail, firmly 
' and inviolably fixed." He thought even that he 
perceived a willingness that the effect produced by 
the memorable Hartford Convention at the North, 
should be neutralized by the effect, which might 
arise out of putting down by force the nullification 
of South-Carolina. He could not sympathize in 
these feelings and sentiments. He was for peace, 
for harmony, for union, and for the preservation too 
of the Protective System. He no more believed then 
than now, that Government was instituted to make 
great and perilous experiments upon the happiness 
of a free people — still less experiments of blood and 
civil war. 

After the introduction of the bill of Compromise 
and its reference to the Committee, predictions of 
the failure of the measure were confidently put fortli. 
Even in the committee-room it was asserted, thai 
there was no chance for its passage ; and Members 
rose from their places with the intention of leaving 
the room, without agreeing upon any report. Mr 
Clay said to them, with decision and firmness : 
" Gentlemen, this bill has been referred to us, and it 
' is our duty to report it, in some form or other, to 
' the Senate — and it shall be reported." Some slight 
amendments were agreed upon, and the bill was re- 
ported. Its subsequent fate is known. 

In brintiing about the adoption of the measure, 
Messrs. Clayton and Letcher are entitled to the most 
liberal praise, as theefficient coadjutors of its author. 
The private history of the Compromise Act re- 
mains vet to be written. Should it ever be given to 
the world, it will throw new lustre upon the patri- 
otic and self-sacrificing character of Mr. Clay. It 
will exhibit in a still stronger light his disinterested- 
ness — his devotion to country — his elevation above 
all selfish impulses and jiersonal ends — his magna- 
nimity, and his generous intrepidity of spirit. 

The Compromise Bill passed the House Februa- 
ry 26th, 1833, by a vote of 120 to li4. It passed ihe 
Senate the ensuing first of March by a vote of 29 to 
IG — Mr. Webster voting against it. Mr. Clay wafl 
now once more hailed as the preserver of the Repub- 
lic — as the great Pacificator. The dark, portentous 
cloud, big Willi civil discord and disunion, which had 
lieeu hanging over the country, rolled away and was 
scattered. The South and the North were reconciled; 
and confidence and prosperity were restored. Is not 



Visit to the Eastern Cilivs — Enthusiastic Reception. 



51 



such a civic triumph worth all the pjeans ever 
shouted in the ears of a military conqueror ? It placed 
Mr. Clay in a commanding and elevated position — 
and drew upon him the eyes of the whole Nation as a 
liberal, sound and true-hearted statesman, in whose 
hands the interests of all sections would be safe. 

The act was characteristic of bis wiiole public ca- 
reer. The only horizon which bounds bis political 
vision is the horizon of his country. There is noth- 
ing small, narrow, sectional in his views, interests 
or hopes. North, South, East and West— they are 
all equally dear to him. Kentucky — noble Ken- 
tucky — where he is cherished and honored as such 
a Statesman and Patriot ought to be cherished and 
Konored by such a gallant and generous constituen- 
cy — he regards with the attachment and devotion, 
with which no generous nature can fail to be inspired 
for the soil where his first honors were won, the 
early theatre of his fame and its fruition — the home 
of his h >pes and his heart. But he looks abroad from 
the State of his adoption, and down from the pinna- 
cle of his elevation — and there lie Massachusetts, 
and New-York, and the Old Dominion, proud of the 
blended honors of their Lexington, Saratoga and 
Yorktown, radiant with the common glories of their 
Adamses, Hamiltons and Washingtons— andhe feels 
that in tliese glories and honors — in those traditions 
and records of achievements — in the fame of those 
illustrious men, he has himself an equal inheritance 
with any of their children. The influence of this no- 
ble, national spirit pervades the wholeof Mr. Clay's 
public career, and is stamped upon all those great 
measures by which, in moments of exigency and 
darkness, he has revived the desponding hopes and 
retrieved the sinking fortunes of the Union.* 

In the autumn of 1833, Rlr. Clay, accompanied by 
his lady, fulfilled a design which he had long con- 
templated, of visiting the Eastern cities. His jour- 
ney was one continued ovation. Arriving at Balti- 
more early in October, he was waited upon by thou- 
sands of citizens, who came to pay their tribute of 
gratitude and respect. At Philadelphia he was re- 
ceived at the Chesnut-street wharf by an immense 
concourse of people with enthusiastic huzzas, and 
conducted to theU. S. Hotel by his friend John Ser- 
geant. Arriving at New- York he was escorted to 
his lodgings by a large procession of gentlemen on 
horseback ; and all parties seemed to unite in their 
testimonials of welcome. A special meeting of the 
Board of Aldermen was held, and the Governor's 
room in the City Hall appropriated to his use, where 
he was visited by a constant succession of citizens. 
At Newport and Providence he was greeted with 
every possible demonstration of welcome and admi- 



* The following passage is an extract from a speech delivered 
by John Tyler in the Virginia House of Delegates, in 1839, in fa- 
vor of the Distribution of the Proceeds of the Public Lands, as re- 
commended by the Kentucky Statesman : 

" In my deliberate opinion, there was but one man, who could 
have arrested the then course of things, (the tendency of Nulliti- 
cation to dissolve the Union, ) and that man was Henry I'lay. 
It rarely happens, Mr. Speaker, to the most gifted, and talented, 
and patriotic, to record tlieir names upon the page of history, in 
characters indelible and enduring. But, sir, if to have rescued 
his country from civil war— //to have preserved the Constitu- 
tion and Union from hazard and total w«c&, constitute any 
ground for an immortal and undying name among men, then I 
do twlieve, tiiat he has won for himself that high renown. I speak 
what I do know, for I was an actor in the scenes of that periloiis 
period. When he rose in that Senate Chamber, and held in his 
hfuid the Oiive Branch of Peace, I, who had not known what 
envy was liclbre, envied hxm. I was proud of him as my fellow- 
c( uiitryman, and still prouder that the Slashes of }{an<n:er, 
withiLthe limits of my old District, gave him birth." 



ration ; and on reaching Boston he wasinctand con- 
ducted to the Tremont House by a very numerous 
cavalcade. 

At all these cities, and many others on his route, 
he received pres8i(g invitations to public dinners; 
but being accompanied by his family, he had, on 
leaving Kentucky, prescribed to himself the rule, to 
which he rigidly adhered, of declining all such invi- 
tations. By all classes in New England, a^d par- 
ticularly by the manufacturing population, Mr. Clay 
was received as a friend and benefactor. The cor- 
dinlity of his welcome showed that his motives in 
originating the Compromise Act had been duly ap- 
preciated by those who were most deeply interested 
in the preservation of the American System. He 
visited many of the manufacturing towns, and on all 
occasions met with a reception which indicated how 
strongly the affections of the People were enlisted 
in his favor. At Faneuil Hall and on Bunker Hill, 
lie received Addresses from Committees, to which 
he replied in his usual felicitous manner. While at 
Boston, a pair of elegant silver pitchers, weighing 
one hundred and fifty ounces, were presented to him 
by the young men. A great crowd was present; 
and Mr. Clay, though taken by surprise, spoke for 
about half an hour in a manner to enchant his hear- 
ers. The following apposite Toast was offered by 
one of the young men on the occasion : " Our Guest 
and Gift — our Friend and Pitcher!" 

While at Salem, Mr. Clay attended a lecture at 
the Lyceum, when the audience, numbering about 
twelve hundred persons, spontaneously rose, and 
loudly greeted him on his entrance. On the fourth 
of November, he left Boston with his family on his 
return journ* •. He took the route through Massa- 
chuse^s 'o Albany, passing through Worcester, 
Hartford, Jj^ringfield, Northampton, Pittsfield, &c. 
and being every where hailed by a grateful People 
with every demonstration of heartfelt attachment 
and reverence. 

At Troy and Albany, the manifestations of popu- 
lar attachment were not less marked than in Massa- 
chusetts. In both places the People rose up as one 
man to do him honor ; and at both places he made 
replies to the addresses presented to him, which are 
excellent specimens of his familiar style of elo- 
quence. The multitudes of citizens who met, fol- 
lowed and waited upon him at every point, in rapid 
succession, indicated how large a space he occupied 
in the public heart. As he said in one of the nume- 
rous speeches which he was called upon to make, 
during his tour, "he had been taken into custody, 
' made captive of, but placed withal in such delight- 
' ful bondage, that he could find no strength and na 
' desire to break away from it." 

The popular enthusiasm did not seem to have 
abated as he returned through those cities which he 
had but recently visited. On his way to Washing 
ton, he was met at New-York, Newark, Trenton, 
Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore, by delega 
tions of citizens, whose attentions rendered his pro- 
gress one of triumphal intere.'^t. He reached the 
Seat of Government in season to be present at the 
opening of Ccngress. 



52 



Life of Henry Clay. 



CHAPTER XII. 

«- 

The Public lifinds— Anecdote— Mr. Clny's Report— Its provi- 
sions— Passase (it'llie l,nnd Bill— It is Vetoed liy Ceu. Jiiclison 
—Right of the(Md Slutes to n slinro in the Public Doinnin— 
Mr. Clay's elliirl-— .Ailiiistmcut of the autstion— Mr. Vuii Hu- 
ren's Noniinntiori us ;>Liinit£r \x> Kiigiaiid — Opposed by Jlr. 
Clay. 

Mr. Clay's course iu regard to the Public Lands 
presents a striking illustration of liis patriotic disin- 
terestedness and self-sacrificing devotion to the cause 
of justice. The characteristic traits which he dis- 
played upon this question remind us of an anecdote 
of him, related a few yeurs since by that eminent 
Statesman and high-minded Whig, William C. 
Preston, in a speech at Phihidelphia. " On one oc- 
' casion," said Mr. P. " he did me the honor to send 

* for and consult with nie. It was in reference to a 
' step* he was about to take, and which will, per- 

* haps, come to your minds without more direct allu- 

* sions. After stating what he proposed, I suggested 
' whether there would not be danger in it — whether 
' such a course would not injure liis own prospects, 
' as well as those of the W^hig party in general ? — 
' His reply was — ' 1 did not send for you to ask what 
" night be the efiects of the proposed movement on 
" my prospects, but whether it is right. I would 

" RATHER BE RIGHT, THAN BE PRESIDENT.' " 

On the twenty-second of March, 1832, Mr. Bibb, 
of Kentucky, moved an inquiry into the expediency 
of reducing the price of the Public Lands. Mr. Ro- 
binson, of Illinois, moved a further inquiry into the 
expediency ot transferring the Public Territory to 
the States within which it lies, upon reasonable 
terms. With the view of embarrassing Mr. Clay, 
these topics were inappropriately referred by the 
Administration party to the Committee on Manufac- 
tures, of which he was a member. It was supposed 
by his enemies that he would make a " bid for the 
Presidency," by favoring the interested States at 
the expense of justice and sound policy. But he 
did not stop to calculate the consequences to him- 
self. He did not attempt to evade or defer the ques- 
tion. He met it promptly. He expressed his opin- 
ions firmly and boldly; and those opinions, thus 
expressed, wise, equitable, conclusive, were imme- 
diately seized upon for the purpose of breaking him 
down in the New States. The design had been to 
embarrass him by holding out the alternative of bat- 
fling the cupidity of a portion of the People of the 
West, or shocking the sense of justice and invading 
the rights of the Old States — to injuriously affect his 
popularity either with the New or the Old States, 
or with both. But when was Heniy Clay known 
to shrink from the responsibility of an avowal of 
opinion upon a question of public moment ? In 
about three weeks after the matter was referred to 
the Committee, he presented to Congress a most 
luminous, able and conclusive Report, and in the 
Bill appended to it arranged the details of a wise 
and equitable plan, which no subsequent legislation 
was able to improve. 

Mr. Clay regarded the National Domain in the 
light of a " common fund," to be managed and dis- 
poi^ed of for the "common benefit of ail the States," 
This property, he thought, should be prudently and 
providently administered ; that it should not be 

. * His speech on Slavery, and the reception of Abolition peti- 



wantonly sacrificed at inadequate prices, and that it 
should not be unjustly abandoned, in violation of the 
trust under which it Was held, to a favored section 
of the country. These principles were the basis oi' 
his Bill, which provided — 

I. That after the thirty-first day of December, 
1832, twelve and a half per cent, of the nett proceeds 
of the Public Lands, sold within their limits, should 
be paid to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Mis- 
souri and Mississippi, over and above what these 
States were severally entitled to by the compacts of 
their admission into the Union; to be apjjlied to In- 
ternal Improvements and purposes of Education 
within those States, under die direction of their Le- 
gislatures — independently of the provisions for the 
construction and maintenance of the Cumberland 
Road. 

II. After this deduction, the nett proceeds were 
to be distributed among the (then) twenty-four 
States, according to their respective Federal Repre 
sentative population; to be applied to such objects 
of Internal Improvement, Education, or Coloniza 
tion, as might be designated by their respective Le- 
gislatures, or the reimbursement of any previous 
debt contracted for Internal Improvements. 

III. The act to continue in force for five years, 
except in the event of a war with any foreign power ; 
and additional provisions to be made for any new 
State that might be meanwliile admitted to the 
Union. 

IV. The minimum price of the public lands not 
to be increased ; and not less than $80,000 per an- 
num to be applied to complete the public surveys. 

V. Land offices to be discontinued in -districts 
where for two successive years the proceeds of sales 
should be insufficient to pay the salaries of the of- 
ficers employed. 

VI. That certain designated quantities of land 
should be granted to six of the new States, not to 
be sold at a less price than the minimum price of 
lands sold by the United States, to be applied to In- 
ternal Improvements. 

Such were the simple and just provisions of the 
Land Bill of Mr. Clay. To the new States they 
were abundantly liberal, without violating the terms 
of the original cession by tlie old States ; for the 
money laid out in the new States for Internal Im- 
provements subject to the use of the United Slates, 
may be justly regarded as for the " common benefit" 
of the Union. 

The introduction of the report and bill created no 
little surprise and excitement in the Senate. It was 
hardly expected of a candidate for the Presidency, 
that he should have so promptly and peremptorily 
rejected the opportunity, thus temptingly presented, 
of bidding for the votes of the new States by hold 
ing out the prospect at least of aggrandizement. 
But on this subject, as on all others, Mr. Clay took 
the broad national ground. He looked at the ques- 
tion as a statesman, not as a politician. He suffer- 
ed no individual inducements to iniluence his opi- 
nions or his policy. His i)aramount sense of duty; 
his habitual sense of the sacredncss of compacts 
his superiority to local, sectional, and personal con- 
siderations, were never more con?j)icuously and 
more honorably manifested than on this occasion. 

The Land Bill was made the special order for tlie 
20tli of June, when it was taken up by Mr. Clay, 



1 



Veto of Mr. Clay's Land Bill ly President Jackson. 



53 



unci advocated with his usual ploqiience and ability- 
Mr. Benton replied. His policy was to reduce the 
price of a portion of the Public Lands, and to surren- 
der the residue to the States in which they lie. It 
would have given to the State of Missouri 25,000,000 
of acres, or about IGO acres to every individual in 
the State, black and white ; while the State of New- 
York, by whose blood and treasure, in part, this 
great Domain was acquired, would have been cut 
off without an acre! Various motions were made 
in the Senate for the postponement and amendment 
of Mr. Clay's bill. The policy of reducing the price 
was urged with great pertinacity by the friends of 
the Administration; but the objections of the report 
to this policy were j'lstly regarded as unanswera- 
ble and insurmountable ; and, on the third of July, 
the bill, essentially in the same form as reported, 
received its final passage in the Senate by a vote of 
20 yeas to 18 nays. The late period of the session 
at which it was sent to the House, and the conflict 
of opinion in that body in respect to some of its pro- 
risions, enabled the Administration to effect its post- 
ponement to the first Monday of the following De- 
cember, by a vote of 91 yeas to 88 nays. 

This, of course, was equivalent to its rejection. 
But such were the wisdom and obvious equity of its 
provisions, and so highly did it commend itself to 
the good sense of the people, that the Administra-. 
tion party was compelled to yield to the uncontrol- 
able force of public opinion. At the next session, 
therefore, of Congress, the bill was again taken up, 
and passed the Senate by a vote of 24 to 20, and the 
popular branch by a vote of 96 to 40 It was sent 
to the President for his approval. 

Notwithstanding the unprecedented favor which 
it had found among the immediate Representatives 
of the people, it was " trampled," as Mr. Ben- 
ton subsequently boasted, under the " big foot of 
President Jackson." The dissolution of Congress, 
before the expiration of the constitutional term for 
which he was authorized to retain the bill, enabled 
tliat self-willed and despotic Chief Magistrate to de 
feat the obvious will of the people. If it had been 
returned to Congress at the session of its passage 
it would have become a law by a two-thirds vote. 
It was therefore withheld, and, at the next session, 
on the 5th of December, 1833, was sent back with 
the veto of the President ; and the veto, as we have 
every reason to believe, sprang from the personal 
hostility of General Jackson toward the author of 
the Land Bill, and an apprehension that it would 
augment the popularity of a rival, whom he feared 
and hated. 

The principles of the Veto Message accorded with 
those which had been already prorrailgated by Mr. 
Benton. General Jackson declared himself in favor 
of reducing the price of a portion of the Public Lands 
and of surrendering the residue to the States in 
which they lie; and withdrawing the machinery of 
our land system. He objected to Mr. Clay's plan 
of giving an extra 12| per cent, of the proceeds of 
the sales within their own limits to the new States, 
as an " indirect and undisguised violation of the 
pledge given by Congress to the States before a sin- 
gle cession was made ; abrogating the condition on 
which some of the States came into the Union; and 
setting at nought the terms of cession spread upon 
tlie face of every grant under which the title of that 



portion of tlic Public Lands are held by the Federal 
Govcrnnieiit." Such were the shocking violations 
of principle and compact, involved in the limited 
and equitable grant to the new States, contemplated 
by the bill of Mr. Clay ; and yet we were gravely 
told by General Jackson, in the same breath, that 
to sell the lands for a nominal price — to withdraw 
the land machinery of the (iuveniment altogether — 
to abandon the lands — to surrender the lands — to 
l,nce them to the States in which they lie — "im- 
paired no principle and violated no compact." It 
was a gross violation of compact — it was a flagrant 
outrage upon principle, to surrender a pari — but the 
outrage was repaired, and the compact kept invio' 
late by an abandonment of the whole ! Such was 
the reasoning of the Veto Message I 

General Jackson had been obliged to change his 
grounds on this question, in order to thwart the 
views of Mr. Clay. In his Annual Message of De- 
cember 4, 1832, he had recommended a measure 
fundamentally similar. But the measure now pre- 
sented to him, though it had passed Congress by 
triumphant majorities, had been suggested, although 
not voluntarily, by an individual who shared no part 
in his counsels or his affections — by one, whom he 
had ungenerously injured, and whom he therefore 
disliked. He preferred the gratification of his malev- 
olence to the preservation of his consistency. The 
consequence was his arbitrary retention of the bill, 
by an irregular and unprecedented proceeding, and 
his subsequent veto. 

The right of the old States to the Public Domain 
is the right of conquest and of compact. Those lands 
were won by the blood and treasure of the thirteen 
Provinces. Their title deeds were signed, sealed 
and delivered on the plains of Yorktown. When 
the clouds of the Revolution had rolled away, and 
the discordant elements of the Confederation were 
taking the shape and systemof our present glorious 
Constitution — the sages and soldiers of liberty as- 
sembled for the establishment of a more perfect 
union. To realize this grand end of their labors, 
they recommended to the thirteen States to make a 
common cession of their Territories to the Federal 
Government; that they might be administered foi 
their common benefit, and stand as a pledge for the 
redemption of the Public Debt. Patriotic Vir- 
ginia, following the wise councils of her Wash- 
ingtons, Henrys and Jeffersons, surrendered with- 
out a murmur her boundless domain — now the seat 
of numerous new States, and still stretching thou- 
sands of leagues into the unsurveyed and uninhab- 
ited wilderness. Her sister States, though they 
had less to surrender, surrendered all that they pos- 
sessed ; and in return for this liberal and patriotic 
abandonment of local advantages for the common 
good, the Congress of the United States pledged it- 
self by the most solemn compact to administer this 
vast Domain for the common benefit of its original 
proprietors, and of such new States as should there- 
after be admitted to the Union. 

The 2d of May, 1834, Mr. Clay made a report from 
the Committee on Public Lands, in relation to the 
President's return of the Land Bill. In this paper 
he exposes with great ability the inconclusiveness 
of the President's reasons. For some ten years, Mr» 
Clay was the vigilant, laborious, and finally success- 
ful opponent of the monstrous project of the admin- 



54 



Life of Henry Clay. 



istration forsquandering the Public Domain and rob- 
bing the old States. To his unremitted exertions we 
shall have been indebted for the successive defeats 
of the advocates of the plunder system, and for the 
final adjustment of the question according to his 
own equitable projjositions. By this adjustnjent, all 
Bections of the country are treated with rigid impar- 
tiality. The interest of no one State is sacrificed to 
that of the others. The West, the North, the South 
and the East, all fare alike. A more wise and prov- 
ident system could not have been devised. It will 
stand as a perpetual monument of the enlarged pa- 
triotism, unerring sagacity, and uncompromising jus- 
tice of its author. 

The question of confirming Mr. Van Buren's nom- 
ination as Minister to England, came before the Sen- 
ate during the Session of 1831—2. The conduct of 
that gentleman while Secretary of State, in his in- 
structions to Mr. McLane, had excited general dis- 
pleasure. Not content with exerting his ingenuity to 
put his own country in the wrong and the British Go v- 
emnient in the right, Mr. Van Buren had endeavored 
to attach to Mr. Adams's administration the discredit 
of bringing forward unfounded "pretensions," and 
by himself disclaiming those pretensions, to pro- 
pitiate the favor of the British King. Upon the sub- 
ject of the Colonial Trade, he said : " To set up the 
'acts of the late Administration, as the cause of a 
'forfeiture of privileges which would otherwise be 
• extended to the people of the United States, would, 
' under existing circumstances, be unjust in itself, 
' and could not fail to excite their deepest sensibil- 

•iTY." 

The parasitical, anti-American spirit displayed 
throughout these celebrated instructions, constituted 
a sufficient ground for the rejection of Mr. Van Bu- 
ren's nomination. Mr. Clay's personal relations to- 
ward that individual had always been of a friendly 
character, but he did not allow them to influence his 
sense of public justice. He addressed the Senate 
emphatically against tlie nomination, declaring that 
liis main objection arose out of the instructions; the 
offensive passages in which he quoted. 

" On our side," said he, " according to Mr. Van 
Buren, all was wrong ; on the British side, all was 
right. We brought forward nothing but claims and 
pretensions ; the British Government asserted on the 
other hand a clear and incontestible right. We erred 
in too tenaciously and too long insisting upon our 
^re<fns«o«s, and not yielding at once to their Just de- 
mands. And Mr. McLane was commanded to avail 
himself of all the circumstances in his power to mit- 
igate our offence, and to dissuade the British Gov- 
ernment from allowing their feelings justly incurred 
by the past conduct of the party driven from power, 
to have an adverse influence toward the American 
party now in power. Sir, was this becoming lan- 
guage from one independent nation to another ? Was 
Jt proper in the mouth of an American minister? 
Was it in conformity with the high, unsullied, and 
dignified character of our previous diplomacy ? Was 
it not, on the contrary, the language of an humble 
vassal to a proud and haughty lord ? Was it not 
prostrating and degrading the American Eagle be- 
Jbre the British Lion ? " 

The nomination of Mr. Van Buren was rejected 
in the Senate by the casting vote of the Vice Presi- 
dent, Mr. Calhoun. It has been said that this act 
was a blunder in policy on the part of the Opposi- 
tion in the Senate — that it made a political niartvr 
of a wily and intriguing antagonist, and commended 



him to the sympathy and vindicatory favor of his 
party. All this may be true; but it does not aftect 
the principle of the measure. Mr. Clay did not lack 
the sagacity to foresee its probable consequences; 
but, where the honor of his country was concerned, 
expediency was with him always an inferior consid- 
eration. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



The (urrenej' Question— Gen. Jackson's "humble efforts" lo 
Improve our Condition— Recharter of the U. S. Bank, anil tha 
I'resident's Veto— Mr. Clay's Speech upon the subject— Char- 
acter ot tlie Veto Power— Kemoval of tlie Deposits— Secretn- 
ries Duane and Tnney— Mr. Clay's relations toward tlie Bank 



Mr. Leigli— Interesting Incident— The Protest Excluded from 
the Jonrniil— Unremitted exertions of Mr. Clay— Public Dis- 
tress—Memorials—Forcible Comparison— The Panic Session- 
Anecdote— Mr. Clay's Departure for Kentucky— Serious Aft- 
cident. 

For the last twelve years the country has been 
kept in a fever of perpetual excitement, or in a state 
of alternate paralysis and convulsion, by the agita- 
tion of the Currency question. General Jackson 
found us in 1829 in a condition of general prosperity. 
The Government was administered with Republican 
economy. The Legislature, the Judiciary and the 
Executive, every one wielding its constitutional 
powers, moved on harmoniously in their respective 
spheres; and the result was a system that secured 
the happiness of the people and challenged the ad- 
miration of the civilized world. Commerce, agricul- 
ture, manufactures and the mechanic arts flourished ; 
lending mutual aid, and enjoying a common pros- 
perity, fostered by the Government and diffusing 
blessings ainong the community. The banking sys- 
tem was sound throughout the States. Our curren- 
cy was iiniform in value, and the local banks were 
compelled to restrict their issues to their ability of 
redemption in specie. There was no wild specula- 
tion. Industrious enterprise was the only source of 
fortune. Labor was amply employed, abundantly 
compensated, and safe in the enjoyment of its wages. 
The habits of the people were simple and democrat- 
ic. Our foreign credit was without a stain, and the 
whole machinery of Government, trade and curren- 
cy, had been brought to a state approaching the ut- 
most limit to be attained by liuman ingenuity and 
human wisdom. 

In 1830, Gen. Jackson commenced his " humble 
efl'orts" for improving our condition. He advised, in 
his message of that year, the establishment of a 
Treasury Bank, with the view, among other things, 
of " strengthening the States," by leaving in their 
hands " the means of furnishing the local paper cur- 
rency through their own banks." This was his 
original plan, and in this message we hear nothing 
of a better currency, or the substitution of the pre- 
cious metals for bank paper. In the following year 
he again brought the subject before Congress, and 
left it to the " investigation of an enlightened people 
and their representatives." The investigation took 
place ; and Congress passed a bill for the recharter 
of the United States Bank. This bill was peremp 
torily vetoed by General Jackson, who condemned 
it us premature, and modestly remarked in regard to 
a Bank, " Had the Executive been called upon tD 
furnish the project of such an institution, the duty 
would have been cheerfully performed." 



The Veto Power — Removal of the Deposits. 



55 



Mr. Clay was one of the foremost in denouncing 
^Ue extraordinary doctrines of tliis Veto Message. 
On the 12th of July, 1832, he addressed the Senate 
upon the subject. We have already given an ex- 
position of his views upon the question of a Bank. 
They are too well known to the Country to require 
reiteration in tliis place. They have been frankly 
avowed on all fitting occasions. Touching the Veto 
power, that monarchical feature in our Constitution, 
his opinions were such as inii;ht have been expected 
from the leader of the Democratic Party of 1815. He 
considered it irreconciliible witli the genius of a Rep- 
resentative Government; and cited 'he Constitution 
of Kentucky, by which, if after the rejection of a 
bill by the Governor, it shall be passed by a 
majority of all the members elected to both Houses, 
it becomes a law notwithstanding the Governor's 
objection. 

The abuses to which this power has been sub- 
jected under the Administrations of Jackson and 
Tyler, call loudly for an amendment of the Federal 
Constitution. The veto of a single magistrate on a 
bill passed by a numerous body of popular Repre- 
sentatives, immediately expressing the opinion of all 
classes of the community, and all sections of the 
country, indicates obviously an enormous preroga- 
tive. It must so strike every one who has ever rea- 
soned on Government. When the People of Paris 
called upon Mirabeau to save them from the grant 
of such a power, telling him that, if granted, all 
was lost, they spoke a sentiment that is as universal 
as the sense and spirit of Liberty. When we reflect 
that no King of" England has dared to exercise this 
power since the year 1692, we cannot but feel that 
there must have been good reason in the jealousy of 
the People, and in the apprehension of the Crown. 
Mr. Burke, in his celebrated letter to the Sheriff of 
Bristol, observes, in reference to the exercise of this 
power by the King, that it is " wisely forborne. Its 
' repose may be the preservation of its existence, 
' and its existence may be the means of saving' the 
' Constitution itself, on an occasion worthy of 
* bringing it forth,^'' So high a power was it con- 
sidered by Mr. Jefferson, that he was at one time 
decidedly in favor of associating the Judiciary with 
the Executive in its exercise. 

It is in this light that the Veto power should be 
considered — as a most serious and sacred one, to be 
exercised only on emergencies worthy to call it 
forth. On all questions of mere opinion, mere ex- 
pediency, the Representatives of the People are the 
best, as they are the legitimate judges. 

The monstrous doctrine had been advanced by 
General Jackson, in his Veto Message, that every 
public officer may interpret the Constitution as he 
pleases. On this point Mr. Clay said, with great 
cogency : — " I conceive, with great deference, that 
' the President has mistaken tiie purport of the oath 
' to support the Constitution of the United States. 
' No one swears to support it as he understands it, 
' but to support it simply as it is in truth. All men 
' are bound to obey tlie laws, of which the Con- 
' stitution is the supreme ; but must they obey them 
' as they are, or as they understand them ? If the 
' obligation of obedience is limited and controlled 
' by the measure of information ; in other words, if 
' the party is bound to obey the Constitution only 
' as h^i uri'srstnud'? '\ what would be the conse- 



'quence? There would be general disorder and 
'confusion throughout every branch of Adminis- 
' tration, from the highest to the lowest officers — 
' universal Nullification." 

During the Session of 18.32-3, General Jackson 
declared that the Public Deposits were not safe in 
the vaults of the United States Bank, and called 
upon Congress to look into the subject and to 
augment what he then considered the " limited 
powers " of the Secretary of the Treasury over tlie 
Public Money. Congress made the desired inves- 
tigation, and the House of Representatives, by a 
vote of 109 to 46, declared the Deposits to be per- 
fectly safe. Resolved on gratifying his feelings of 
personal animosity toward the friends of the Bank, 
General Jackson did not allow this explicit declara- 
tion on the part of the immediate Agents of the 
People to shake his despotic purpose. During the 
Autuinn of 1833, he resolved upon that most arbi- 
trary of arbitrary measures, the removal of the 
Deposits. The Cabinet Council, to whom he 
originally proposed this measure, are said to have 
disapproved of it in the most decided terms. Mr. 
McLane, the Secretary of the Treasury, refused to 
lend to it his assistance. He was accordingly 
translated to the office of Secretary of State, made 
vacant by the appointment of Mr. Livingston to the 
French Mission ; and William J. Duane of Phila- 
delphia took his place at the Head of the Treasury 
Department. Mr. Duane, however, did not turn out 
to be the pliable tool which the President had ex- 
pected to find him. Ou the 20th of September, 
1833. it was autlioritatively announced to the pub- 
lic that tlie Deposits would be removed. The next 
day Mr. Duane made known to the President his 
resolution, neither voluntarily to withdraw from his 
post nor to be made the instrument of illegallj 
removing the Public Treasures. The consequence 
was, the nide dismission of the independent Secre- 
tary from office on the 23d of September. Mr. 
Taney, who had sustained the views of the Presi- 
dent, was made his successor; and the People's 
Money was removed from the Depository where the 
law had placed it, and scattered among irrespon- 
sible State Institutions under the control of greedy 
partisans. 

The Congressional Session of 1833-4, was one of 
extraordinary interest, in consequence of the dis- 
cussion of this high-handed measure. 

In his Message to Congress, the President said : 
" Since the adjournment of Congress, the Secretary 
' of the Treasury has directed the Money of the 
' United States to be deposited in certain State 
' Banks designated by him ; and he will imme- 
' diately lay before you his reasons for this direc- 
' tion. I concur with him entirely in the view he 
' has taken of the subject ; and, some months before 
'• the removal, I urged upon the Department the pro- 
' priety of taking the step." The ' reasons ' adduced 
by Mr. Taney for lending his aid to the seizure of the 
Public Money, were such as might have been ex- 
pected from an adroit lawyer. However satisfac- 
tory they might have been to General Jackson and 
his party, they were utterly insufficient to justify the 
act in the eyes of dispassionate and clear-minded 
men. Mr. Taney undertook to sustain his position 
by a precedent wifch he assumed to find in a letter 
addressed by Mr. Crawford, when Secretary frf iiit 



56 



Life of Henry Clay 



Treasury, to the President oC the Mechanics' Bank 
of New-York. On the 19th of December, Mr. Clay 
introduced Resolutions into tlic Senate calling upon 
Mr. Taney for a copy of the letter, an extract from 
which he had cited in his Report. 

In his remarks upon the occasion of presenting 
these Resolutions, Mr. Clay made some observa- 
tions in regard to his own personal relations toward 
the Bank. An individual high in office had allowed 
himself to assert that a dishonorable connection had 
subsisted between him (Mr. C.) and that Institution. 
Mr. Clay said that when the Chai ter, then existing, 
was granted, he voted for it ; and, having done so, 
he did not feel himself at liberty to subscribe, and 
he did not subscribe for a single share in the Stock 
of the Bank, although he confidently anticipated a 
great rise in its value. A iev/ years afterward, 
during the Presidency of Mr. Jones, it was thought 
by some of his friends at Philadelphia, expedient to 
make him (Mr. C.) a Director of the Bank of the 
United States; and he was made a Director, 
without any consultation with hiui. For that pur- 
pose, five shares were purchased for him by a 
friend, for which he (Mr. C.) afterward paid. 
When he ceased to be a Director, a short time sub- 
sequently, he disposed of those shares; since which 
time he has never been proprietor of a single share. 
When Mr. Cheves was appointed President of the 
Bank, its affairs in the States of Kentucky and Ohio 
■were in great disorder; and Mr. Clay's professional 
services were engaged during several years for the 
Bank in those States. He brought a vast number 
of suits, and transacted a great amount of profes- 
sional business for the Bank. Among other suits, 
was one for the recovery of $100,000, seized under 
the authority of a law of Ohio, which he carried 
through the Inferior and Supreme Courts. He was 
paid by the Bank the usual compensation for these 
services and no more. No professional fees were 
ever more honestly and fairly earned. For upwards 
of eight years past, however, he had not been the 
counsel for the Bank. He did not owe the Bank, 
or any of its Branches, a solitary cent. Some twelve 
or fifteen years before, owing to the failure of a 
friend, a large amount of debt had been thrown upon 
Mr. Clay, as his endorser ; and it was principally 
due to the Bank of the United States. Mr. Clay 
commenced a system of rigid economy— established 
for himself a sinking fund — worked hard, and paid 
off" the debt without receiving from the Bank the 
slightest favor. 

The resolutions of 3Ir. Clay, calling upon the 
Secretary of the Treasury for a copy of the letter, 
said to have been written by Mr. Crawford, passed 
the Senate ; and on the 13th of December, a com- 
munication was received from Mr. Taney, the char- 
acter of which was evasive and unsatisfactory. The 
Senate had asked for documents, and he gave them 
arguments. In reference to Mr. Crawford's opinions, 
Mr. Clay said, that although there was plausibility 
in the construction, which the Secretary had ,:;ivf n 
to them, yet he, (Mr. Clay) would undertake to 
show that the opinions ascribed to Mr. Crawford in 
reference to the Bank Charter, were never asserted 
by him. 

On the 2Cth of December, 1833, Mr. Clay laid llie 
following resolutions before the Senate : 

' 1. Resolved, That, by dismissing the late Sec- 



retary of the Treasury, because he would not, con- 
trary to his sense of his own duty, remove the mo- 
ney of the United States in deposit with the Bank of 
the United States and Branches, in conformity with 
the President's opinion; and by appointing his suc- 
cessor to efTect such removal, whicli has been done, 
the President has assumed the exorcise of a power 
over the Treasury of the United States, not granted 
by the Constitution and Laws, and dangerous to the 
liberties of the people. 

" 2. Resolved, That the reasons assigned by the 
Secretary of the Treasury, for the removal of the 
money of the United States from the United States 
Bank and its Branches, communicated to Congress 
on the 3d day of December, 1833, are unsatisfactory 
and insulificient." 

Mr. Clay's speech in support of the resolutions 
was delivered partly on the 2Cth and partly on the 
30th of December ; and it is one of the most mas- 
terly efforts of eloquence ever beard within the walls 
of the Capitol. In force and amplitude of argu- 
ment, variety and appropriateness of illustratiow, 
and energy of diction, it is equalled by few oratori- 
cal productions in the English language. During 
its delivery, the Lower House was almost deserted ; 
and the galleries of the Senate Chamber were filled 
by a mutely attentive audience, whose enthusiasm 
occasionally broke forth in unparliamentary bursts 
of applause — a demonstration, which is rarely eli- 
cited except when the feelings are aroused to an ex- 
traordinary degree. 

In his exordium, Mr. Clay briefly glanced at some' 
of the principal usurpations and abuses of the Ad- 
ministration : 

"We are," said he, "in the midst of a revolution, 
hitherto bloodless, but rapidly tending towards a 
total change of the pure Republican character of the 
Government, and to the concentration of all power 
in the hands of one man. The powers of Congresa 
are paralyzed, except when exerted in conformity 
with his will, by a frequent and extraordinary exer- 
cise of the Executive Veto, not anticipated by the 
founders of the Constitution, and not practised by 
any of the predecessors of the present Chief Magis- 
trate. And, to cramp them still more, a new expe- 
dient is springing into use, of withholding altogether 
bills which have received the sanction of both 
Houses of Congress, thereby cutting off all oppor- 
tunity of passing them, even if, after their return, llie 
members should be unanimous in their favor. The 
Constitutional participation of the h'enate in die ap- 
pointing power is virtually abolished by the con- 
stant use of the power of rereoval from office, with- 
out any known cause, and by the appointment of 
the same individual to the same office, after his re- 
jection by the Senate. How often have we, Sena- 
tors, felt that the check of the Senate, instead of be- 
ing, as the Constitution intended, a salutary control, 
was an idle ceremony ? *»* **#* 

" The Judiciary has not been exempted from the 
prevailing rage for innovation. Decisions of the 
tribunals deliberately pronounced have been con- 
temptuously disregarded, and the sanctity of numer- 
ous Treaties openly violated. Our Indian relations, 
coeval with the existence of the Government, and 
recognized and established by numerous laws and 
treaties, have been subverted ; the rights of the 
helpless and unfortunate aborigines trampled in the 
dust, and they brought under subjection to un- 
known laws, in which the)' have no voice, pro- 
mulgated in nji an unknown language. The most 
extensive and most valuable Public Domain, that 
ever fell to the lot of one Nation, is threatened 
with a total sacrifice. The general currency tf 
the coimtry — the life-blood of all its business — ie 
in the most iinaiinent danger of universal disordej 
and contusion. 'I'lve power of Internal Improve- 



Passage of Mr. Clay's Resolution— The Protest— Mr. Leigh on the Compromise. 57 



wient lies crushed beneath the Veto. The system 
of Protection of Arat-rican Industry was snatch- 
ed from impending destruction at the last session; 
but we are now cooiiy told by tlie Secretary of 
the Treasury, without a blush, ' that it i-* under- 
stood to be conceded on all linudi, that a Taiilt'for 
Protection merely is to be finally abandoned.' By 
the 3d of March, 1837, if the progress of innovation 
continue, there will be scarcely a vestige remaining 
of the Government and its policy, as it existed prior 
to the 3d of March, 1829." 

In the paper read to his Cabinet on the 18th of 
September, 1833, and afterwards published in the 
newspapers, but which he refused to communicate to 
the Senate, when called upon by them so to do, Pre- 
sident Jackson is made to employ terms of blandish- 
ment toward his new Secretary of the Treasury, as 
if to gild the shackles of dictation imposed by Exe- 
cutive power in regard to the removal of die de- 
posits. He says, he trusts that the Secretary will 
Bee in his remarks, " only the frank and respectful 
' declajrations of the opinions which the President 
' has fornaed on a measure of great National interest, 
' deeply aftecting the character and usefulness of 
'his Administration, and not a spirit of dictation, 
'which the President would be as careful to avoid, 
' as ready to resist." 

Mr. Clay very happily illustrates the hypocrisy 
of this deferential language. " Sir, it reminds me 
of an historical anecdote related of one of the most 
remarkable characters which our species has ever 
produced. While Oliver Cromwell was contending 
for the mastery of Great Britain or Ireland, (I do 
not now remember which,) he besieged a certain 
Catholic town. The place made a stout resistance ; 
but at length the town being likely to be taken, the 
poor Catholics proposed terms of capitulation, 
stipulating therein for the toleration of their reli- 
gion. The paper containing the terms was brought 
to Oliver, who, putting on his spectacles to read it, 
cried out : ' Oh, granted, granted ! certainly ! He, 
however, added — ' but if one of them shall dare be 
found attending Mass, he shall be hanged !' — (under 
which section is not mentioned — whether under a 
second, or any other section, of any particular law, 
we are not told.") 

After proving what is now notorious to the whole 
country, that the Removal of the Deposits was the 
act of General Jackson and of him alone, and that 
the Secretary of the Treasury was merely the cafs- 
paw in the accomplishment of the seizure, Mr. Clay 
proceeded to show that it was in violation of the 
Constitution and laws of the United States. His 
argument on this point is faithful and conclusive. 

We regret that our limited space prevents us from 
quoting freely from this interesting speech. It con- 
tains a succinct history of all the financial exploits 
of General Jackson and his subservient Secretary up 
to the period of its delivery ; and is as valuable for 
its documentary facts as it is interesting for the 
vigor and animation of its style, and the impregna- 
bility of its arguments. 

The resolution declaring the insufficiency of the 
reasons assigned by the Secretary of the Treasury 
for the Removal of the Deposits, having been refer- 
red to the Committee on Finance, at the head of 
•which was Mr. Webster, was reported with a recom- 
mendation that it be adopted. The question upon 
the resolution was not taken till the 28th of March, 



when it was passed by the Senate, 28 to 18. At tlic 
instance of some of his friends, Mr. Clay then modr- 
fied his other resolution, so as to read as follows : 

" Resolved, That the President, in the late execu- 
tive proceedings in relation to the Public Revenue, 
has assumed upon himself authority and power not 
conferred by the Constitution and Laws, but in dero- 
gation of both." 

The resolution was adopted by the following vote : 

Yeas — Messrs. Bibb, Black, Calhoun, Clay, Clay- 
ton, Ewing, Frelinghuysen, Kent, Knight, Leigk, 
Mangum, Naudain, Poindexter, Porter, Prentiss, 
Preston, Robbins, Silsbee, Smith, Southard, 
Sprague, Swift, Tomlinson, Tyler, Waggaman, 
Webster— 26. 

Nays — Messrs. Benton, Brown, Forsyth, Grundy, 
Hendricks, Hill, Kane, King of Alabama, King oi' 
Georgia, Linn, McKean, Moore, IVIorris, Robinson, 
Shepley, Tallmadge, Tipton, White, Wilkins, 
Wright— 20. 

The passage of Mr. Clay's resolution drew forth 
from the President the celebrated Protest, which was 
communicated to the Senate the I7th of April, 1833. 
This document was of a most novel and unprecedent- 
ed character, and gave rise to debates, which will 
always be memorable in our legislative annals. The 
assumptions of the President were truly of a kind to 
excite alarm among the friends of our Republican 
system. In this extraordinary paper he maintains, 
that he is responsible for the acts of every Executive 
officer, and that all the powers given by law are 
vested in him as the head and fountain of all. He 
alludes to the Secretary of the Treasury as his Sec- 
retary, and says that Congress cannot take from the 
Executive the control of the Public Money. Hi« 
doctrine is, that the President should, under his oath 
of office, sustain the Constitution's he understands 
it; not as the Judiciary may expound, or Congress 
declare it. From these principles, he infers that all 
subordinate officers are merely the executors of his 
supreme will, and that he has the right to discharge 
them whenever he may please. 

These monstrous and despotic assumptions, tran- 
scending as they do the prerogatives claimed by most 
of the nionarchs of Europe, aftbrded a theme for elo- 
quent discussion, which was not neglected by the 
opposition, who then constituted the majority in the 
Senate. Mr. Poindexter, of Mississippi protested 
against the reception of such a paper from the Pres- 
ident ; and moved that it be not received. Mr. 
Sprague, of Maine, exposed its fallacies, and de- 
nounced its doctrines in spirited and indignant terms. 
The Senators from New-Jersey, Messrs. Freling- 
huysen and Southard, expressed their astonishment 
and indignation in strong and decided language. 
Mr. Benton, "solitary and alone," stood forth as the 
champion of the President and the Protest. 

The next day (April 18tb) the consideration of Mr. 
Poindexter's motion was resumed; and Mr. Leigh, 
of Virginia, addressed the Senate for about two hours 
in a speech of rare ability. Toward its conclusion 
an unusual incident occurred. Mr. Kine^, of Ala-- 
bama, had claimed for the President the merit of ad- 
justing the Tariif question. He might, with quite as 
much truth, have claimed for him the merit of wri^ 
ting the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Leigh, 
in reply to this assumption, spoke as follows : 

" Sir, I cannot but remember, that during the anx. 
ious winter of 1832-3, when South Carolina, undej 
a deep sense of injustice and oppression, (whether 



56 



Life of Henry Clay. 



well or ill founded, it is immaterial now to inquire,) 
was exertino: her utmost eflorts {no matter now 
whether wisely or not) to brin": about a relaxation of 
The Bvstetn — when all men were tremblins; under the 
apprehension of Civil War — trembling from the con- 
viction, that if such a content should arise, let -it ter- 
ininale hoiv it might, it irould put our present insti- 
tutions in Jcop/irUi/, and end either in Consolida- 
tion or Disuniou^'or, I am persuaded, that the 
first drop of blood irhich shall be shed in n civil 
ttrifc between the Federal Government and any 
State, icill flaic from an immedicable wound, that 
none may hope ever to see healed — I cannot but re- 
member that the President, though wielding such 
vast power and intluence, never contributed the 
least aid to bring about the compromise that saved 
U3 from the evils which all men, I believe, and I 
certainly, so nuich dreaded. The men are not pre- 
sent to whom we are chiefly indebted for that com- 
promise ; and I am glad they are absent, since it 
enables me to speak of their conduct as I feel, with- 
out restraint from a sense of delicacy — 1 raise my 
tumble voice in gratitude for that service to Henry 
Clay of the Senate, and Robert P. Letcher of the 
House of Representatives " 

Here Mr. Leigh was interrupted by loud and pro- 
longed plaudits in tlie gallery. The Vice President 
suspended the discussion, and ordered the galleries 
to be cleared. While the Sergeant-at-Arms was in 
the act of fulfilling this order, the applause was re- 
peated. Mr. Benton moved that the persons ap- 
plauding should be taken into custody; but before 
the motion could be considered, the galleries were 
vacated and order was restored. 

On the 21st of April, another message was receiv- 
ed from tiie President, being a sort of codicil to the 
Protest, in which he undertook to explain certain 
passages, which he feared had been misapprehended. 
Mr. Poindexter withdrew his original motion, and 
substituted four resolutions, in which it was embod- 
ied. These resolutions were modified by Mr. Clay, 
and an amendment suggested by Mr. Calhoun was 
adopted. Messrs. Clayton, Webster, Preston, Ew- 
ing, Mangum, and others, addressed the Senate elo- 
quently on various occasions upon the subject 
of the Protest; and, on the 30th of April, Mr. Clay, 
the resolution of Mr. Poindexter still pending, made 
his well-known speech. Although the subject 
seemed to have been exhausted by the accomplished 
speakers who had preceded him, it was at once re- 
invested with the charms of novelty in his hands. 
The speech contains the most complete and faithful 
picture of Jacksonism ever presented to the country. 

The Resolutions of Mr. Poindexter passed the Se- 
riate, by a vote of 27 to 16. on the seventh of May. 
They exclude the Protest from the Journals, and 
declare that the President of the United States has 
no right to send a Protest to the Senate against any 
of its proceedings. 

On the twenty-eighth of May, 1834, Mr. Clay in- 
troduced two joint Resolutions, reasserting what 
had been already declared by Resolutions of the Se- 
nate, that the reasons assigned by the Secretary of 
the Treasury to Congress, for the Removal of the 
Public Deposits, were insufficient and unsatisfac- 
tory ; and providing that, from and after the first day 
of July ensuing, all Deposits which might accrue 
from the Public Revenue, subsequent to that jjeriod, 
should be placed in the Bank of the United States 
and its Branches, pursuant to the IGth section of the 
Act to Incorporate the Subscribers to the United 
States Bank. 



In presenting these Resolutions, Mr. Clay re- 
marked that, whatever might be their fate at the 
other end of the Capitol or in another building, that 
consideration ought to have no influence on the 
course of the Senate. The Resolutions were adopt- 
ed and sent to the House, where they were laid up- 
on the table, and, as was anticipated, never acted 
upon. 

The labors of Mr. Clay during the celebrated ses- 
sion of 1833-4, appear to have been arduous and in- 
cessant. On every important question that came 
before the Senate, he spoke, showing himself the 
ever-vigilant and active opponent of Executive usur- 
pation. Immediately after the withdrawal of the 
Public Money from the United States Bank, and 
before the " Pet Banks,'' to which the treasure had 
been transferred, had created an unhealthy plethora 
in the Currency by their consequent expansions, the 
distress among the People began to manifest itseU' 
in numerous memorials to Congress, protesting 
against the President's financial experiments, and 
calling for reliel'. Many of these memorials were 
communicated to die Senate through Mr. Clay, and 
he generally accompanied their presentation with a 
brief but pertinent speech. Ilis remarks on present- 
ing: a memorial from Kentucky, on the twenty-sixth 
of February, 1G34 — and from Troy, the fourteenth ot 
April — are eloquent expositions of tlie financial con- 
dition of the country at those periods. In his speech 
of the fifth of February, on a motion to print addi- 
tional copies of the Report of the Committee on Fi- 
nance, to whom had been referred the Report of the 
Secretary of the Treasury in regard to the Removal 
of the Deposits, we find die following just and forci- 
ble image : 

" The idea of uniting thirt\ or forty local Barrkg 
for the establishment and security of an equal Cur- 
rency could never be realized. As well might the 
crew of a national vessel be put on board thirty or 
forty bark canoes, tied together by a grape-vine, and 
sent out upon the troubled ocean, while the billows 
were rising mountain-high, and the tempest was ex- 
hausting its rage on the foaming element, in the hope 
that they might weather the storm, and reach their 
distant destination in safety. The People would be 
contented with no such fleet of bark canoes, with 
Admiral Taney in their command. They would be 
heard again callinc: out for Old Ironsides, which had 
never failed them in the hour of trial, whether amidst 
the ocean's storm, or in the hour of Isattle." 

This session, generally known as the " Panic Sea- 
sion," was one of the most remarkable that have 
ever occurred in the progress of our Government. 
Never was there collected in the Senate a greater 
amount of eminent ability. For weeks together the 
Whigs poured forth a torrent of eloquent denuncia- 
tions, in every form, against that high-handed mea- 
sure, the Removal of the Deposits. This was most 
generally done on the occasion of presenting peti- 
tions or memorials from the People against it. Go 
into the Senate Chamber any morning during this 
interesting period, and you would find some Whig 
on his feet, expatiating on the pernicious consequen- 
ces of that most disastrous proceeding. It was then 
that they predicted the evil eftects of it, since so fa- 
tally and exactly realized. 

Mr. (IJlay was among the most active and eloquent 
of these distinguished champions of the People. No 
one exhibited so great a variety of weapons of attack 
upon the Administration, or so consummate a skill 



Apneal to the Vice President — Anecdotes, 



in the use of them. Early in March, 1834, a Com- 
mittee from Philadolpliia arrived ia Washington 
with a memorial from a large body of Mechanics, de 
piciiiig the state of prostration and distress produced 
among all ihe laboring classes, by the high-handed 
and pernicious measures of the Administration. In 
presenting this memorial, Mr. Clay took occasion to 
deviate somewhat from the beaten track of debate. 
He made a direct appeal to the Vice President, Mr. 
Van Buren, cluirging him with tlie delivery of a 
message to the Executive. After glancing at the 
gloomy condition of the country, lie remarked that 
it was in tlie ])ovver of the Chief Magistrate to ado[)t 
a measure which, in twenty four hours, would afl'ord 
an efficacious and substantial remedy, and reestab- 
lish confidence ; and those w ho, in that Chamber, 
supported the Administration, could not render a 
better service than to repair to the Executive Man- 
sion, and, placing before the Chief Magistrate the 
naked and undisguised truth, prevail upon lum to 
retrace his steps and abandon his fatal experiment. 

" No one, Sir," continued Mr. Clay, turning to 
the Vice President, " can perform that duty with 
' more propriety tlian yourself. You can, if you 
'will, induce him to change his course. To you, 
' then. Sir, in no unfriendly spirit, but with feelings 
' softened and subdued by the deep distress which 
' pervades every class of our countrymen, I make 
'the appeal. By your otlicial and personal rela- 
' tions with the President, you maintain with him 
' an intercourse which I neither enjoy nor covet. 
' Go to him and tell liim without exaggeration, but 

* in the language of truth and sincerity, the actual 

* condition of his bleeding Country. Tell him it is 
' nearly ruined and undone by the measures which 
' he has been induced to put in operation. Tell 
' him that his experiment is operating on the Nation 

* like the philosopher's experiment upon a convulsed 
' animal in an exhausted receiver ; and that it must 
•expire in agony if he does not pause, give it fresh 
' and sound circulation, and suffer the energies of 
' the People to be revived and restored. Tell him 
' that in a single city more than sixty bankruptcies, 
' involving a loss of more than fifteen millions of 
' dollars, have occurred. Depict to him, if you 
' can find language for the task, the heart-rending 
' wretchedness of thousands of the Working Classes. 
' Tell him how much more true glory is to be won 
' by retracing false steps than by blindly rushing on 
' until the country is overwhelmed in bankruptcy 
' and ruin. Entreat him to pause." 

In this strain Mr. Clay proceeded for nearly twenty 
minutes. Nothing could be more eloquent, touch 
ing and unanswerable than the appeal, although, of 
course, it failed of effect. " Well, Mr. Van Buren, 
did you deliver the message I charged you with .' " 
asked Mr. Clay, as he met the Vice President in the 
Senate Chamber the next morning before the day's 
session had commenced. 

The reply of Mr. Van Buren is not recorded. 
That gentleman, however, was never celebrated for 
his powers of repartee. During the period of his 
Vice Presidency, Mr. Clay dined with him on one 
occasion in company with the Judges of the United 
States Court, the Heads ofDepartments, and others. 
Conversation at dinner glanced at the fact that Tory 
Ministers, both in England and in France, were more 
diflposed than Whig Ministers to do justice to the 



United States, and deal liberally with them in all 
international negotiations. All the parties present 
agreed as to the fact; and tutning suddenly to Mr. 
Van Buren, Mr. Clay said : — " If you will permit 
me, I will propose a toast." " With great pleasure," 
returned the Vice President. " I propose," said Mr. 
Clay, " 'J'onj Ministers in Eng-land and France, 
and a Whig Ministry in the United States." 
The toast was drunk with great cordiality by tlio 
company, Mr. Van Buren aflecting to laugh, but 
blushing at the same time up to the eyes, and evi- 
dently nonplussed for a retort. 

The message addressed by Mr. Clay to the Vice 
President recalls to mind another, which he re- 
quested the late Mr. Grundy to deliver to President 
Jackson. It was the last of February, 1833, when 
the Land Bill was pending. " Tell General Jack- 
son," said Mr. Clay, " that if he will sign that bill I 
will pledge myself to retire from Congress and never 
enter public life again." Mr. Grundy, who was an 
amiable and remarkably good-natured person, said : 
" No, I ca n't deliver that message ; for we may have 
use for you hereafter." This was, it will be remem- 
bered, at the session when the Compromise passed. 

The First Session of the Twenty-Third Congress 
terminated the 30th of June, 1834 , and Mr. Clay, 
after his prolonged and laborious exertions in 
behalf of the Constitution and the Laws, set 
out immediately on his journey home. As the 
stage-coach, in which he was proceeding from 
Charlestown toward Winchester in Virginia, was 
descending a hill, it was overturned, and a worthy 
young gentleman, Mr. Humrickhouse, son of the 
Contractor, was instantly killed by being crushed 
by the vehicle. He was seated by the side of the 
driver. Mr. Clay was slightly injured. The acci- 
dent happened in consequence of a defect in the 
breast-chain, which gave way. On his arrival at 
Winchester, Mr. Clay was invited to a Public Din- 
ner, which he declined, as well on account of hia 
desire to reach home, as because of this melancholy 
accident, which disqualified him for immediate en- 
joyment at the festive board. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Our Claims on France— Hostile tone of Genernl Jiickson'n Mes 
sage of 1834— Recommends Reprisals — Mr. Cluy's Report on 
tlie subject — Discussion — Unanimous adoption (if his Resolu- 
tion-Effect of the Message— Speech on presenting the Chero- 
Ijee Memorial— Executive Patronage — The Cumberland Road. 

The most important question which came before 
Congress at its Second Session, in 1834-5, was that 
of our Relations with France. The claims of our 
citizens upon that Government for aggressions upon 
our Commerce between the years 1800 and 1817 
had been repeatedly adtnitted ; but no decided stepa 
toward a settlement had been taken until the 4th of 
July, 1831, when a Treaty was ratified, by which it 
was agreed, on the part of the French, that the sum 
of twenty-five millions of francs should be paid to 
the United States as an indemnity. By the terms 
of the Treaty, the first instalment was to be paid at 
the expiration of one year after the exchange of the 
ratifications. 

The French Government having failed in the per- 
formance of this stipulation — the draft of the United 
States tor the first instalment having been dishonored 
by the Minister of Finance — President Jackson, ia 



60 



Life of Henry Clay. 



Lis Message of December, 1034, to Congress, reconi- 
niended that, in case provision should not be made 
for the payment of the debt at the approaching Ses- 
sion of the French Chambers, a law should be 
passed authorizing reprisals upon French property. 
This was a step not to be precipitately taken ; and, 
to insure its patriotic, dispassionate and statesman- 
like consideration, the Senate placed Mr. Clay at 
the head of the Committee on Foreign Relations, to 
which Committee that part of the President's Mes- 
sage relating to our affairs with France was referred. 

On the 6th of January, 1835, Mr. Clay made his 
celebrated Report to the Senate. It was read by 
him from his seat, its reading occupying an hour 
and a half; the Senate Chamber being thronged 
during its delivery by RIembers of the House, and 
the galleries filled to overflowing. The ability dis- 
played in tills extraordinary document, the firmness 
and moderation of its tone, the perspicuous arrange- 
ment of facts which it presents, the lucidity and 
strength of its style, and the inevitable weight of its 
conclusions called forth the admiration and concur- 
rence of all parties. It would seem to have been, 
under Providence, the means of averting a war with 
France. In the preparation of it, Mr. Clay had a 
difficult and delicate task to perform ; and it was 
accomplished with great ingenuity and success. 
?Cot a word that could lower the national tone and 
spirit was indulged in. He eloquently maintained 
tliat the right lay on our side, but admitted that the 
French King had not been so far in the wrong that 
all hopes of the execution of the Treaty were ex- 
tinct, nor did he consider that hostile measures were 
yet justifiable. This temperate, judicious, firm and 
statesman-like language, while it removed all cause 
of offence on the part of the French, imparted new 
renown to our own Diplomacy. While it was 
all that the most chivalrous champions of their 
Country's honor could ask, it breathed a spirit 
which called forth the full approbation of the 
friends of peace. 

As soon as Mr. Clay had finished the reading of 
his Report, a discussion arose in the Senate as to 
the number which should be printed. Mr. Poindex- 
ter moved the printing of twenty thousand extra co- 
pies. Mr. Clay thought that number too large, and 
suggested five thousand. Mr. Calhoun said he should 
vote for the largest number proposed. He had heard 
the report read with the greatest pleasure. It con- 
tained the whole grounds which ought to be laid be- 
fore the people. Of all calamities that could befall 
the country, he most deplored a French War at that 
time. Under these considerations he should vote for 
twenty-thousand copies. 

Mr. Ewing and Mr. Porter would vote for the lar- 
gest number, and the latter would have preferred 
thirty or forty thousand. 

Mr. Preston said he was strongly impressed by the 
views taken by the Committee, and considered them 
sufficient to satisfy the people that we could honor- 
ably and justly avoid war with France. Concur- 
ring in the sentiments of the Committee, and enter- 
taining a profound respect for the wisdom exhibited 
in the Report, he was anxious that the document 
should be spread through the country as widely as 
possible. 

The Senate finally ordered twenty thousand co- 
pies of this admirable report tobe printed, and it was 



soon scattered to the remotest corners of the Union. 
Its effect in reviving the confidence and allaying tlte 
fears of our mercantile community must be fresh ia 
the remembrance of many. The rates of Insuranca 
were at once diminished, and Commerce spread her 
white wings to the gale, and swept the ocean onca 
more unchecked by the liabilities of a hostile en> 
counter. The depression in business produced by 
the President's belligerent recommendation was at 
once removed. 

The Report showed conclusively that the Presi- 
dent's recommendation in regard to reprisals was 
premature, and unauthorized by the circumstances 
of the case ; and that there had been a constant man- 
ifestation on the part of the Executive brancli of the 
French Government of a disposition to carry the 
Treaty of indemnification into effect. Tli£ Commit- 
tee expressed their agreement with the President, 
that the fulfilment of the Treaty should be insisted 
upon at all hazards ; but they considered that a rash 
and precipitate course on our part should be sedu- 
ously avoided. They would not anticipate the pos- 
sibility of a final breach by France of her solemn 
engagements. They limited themselves to a con- 
sideration of the posture of things as they then ex- 
isted. At the same time, they observed that it could 
not be doubted that the United Slates were abund- 
antly able to sustain themselves in any vicissitudes 
to which they might be exposed. The patriotism of 
the people had been, hitherto, equal to all emergen- 
cies, and if their courage and constancy, when they 
were young and comparatively weak, bore them 
safely through all past struggles, the hope might he 
confidently entertained now, when their numbers, 
their strength and their resources were greatly in- 
creased, that they would, whenever the occasioB 
might arise, triumphantly maintain the honor, the 
rights and the interests of their country. The Com- 
mittee concluded by recommending to the Senat» 
the adopticm of the following resolution : 

" Resolved, That it is inexpedient at this time to 
pass any law vesting in the President authority for 
making reprisals upon French property, in the con- 
tingency of provision not being made for paving to 
the United States the indemnity stipulated by the 
Treaty of 1831, during the present session of the^ 
French Chambers." 

On the 14th of January, Mr. Clay, pursuant to 
previous notice, called for the consideration of the 
Report of the Committee on Foreign Relations, asd 
its accompanying Resolution. It being expected 
that he would address the Senate, a large audience 
was in attendance, and, as soon as he was up, the 
other House was without a quorum. Tlie questioia 
being upon agreeing to the resolution as reported, ho 
spuke fur nearly an hour, and his remarks were in 
the same moderate, magnanimous and truly Ameri- 
can strain, which characterized his Report. 

Mr. King, of Georgia, one of the AdministratioH 
Members of the Conunittee on Forei^rn Relations, 
alter bearing the strongest testimony to the candid 
and temperate character of Mr. Clay's Report, mo- 
ved to give the Resolution such a modification as, 
without changing its substance, would obtain for it 
a unanimous vote. Mr. Clay accepted in part Mr. 
King's amendment, and also one that was ofiered by 
Mr. Webster; apd the following resolution was at 
length u.NANiMousi.Y PASSED by the Senate. 

" Resolved, That it is inexpedi . at present to 



Speech in behalf of the Cherokees—On the Abatement of Executive Patronage. 61 



adopt any legislative measure in regard to the state 
of aftairs'between the United States and France." 

The unanimous passage of this resolution, was a 
result as gratifying as it was unexpected; and its 
eflect upon the French Chambers, in neutralizing 
the harsh language of the President, and ha.-^tening 
the execution of the Treaty was most auspicious. 
The praises of Congress and of the country, were 
liberally awarded to Mr. Clay for his judicious and 
conclusive Report in behalf of a pacific course. 

The effect of the President's Message recommend- 
ing reprisals and conveying an imputation upon the 
good faith of Louis Phillippe, was such as might 
have been anticipated. The French King was just- 
ly offended. The French Minister was at once re- 
called from Washington, and a Charg6 des Affaires 
substituted. Passports were tendered to our Minis- 
ter at Paris. In consequence of these developments, 
Mr. Clay, on the last day of the Session, made an- 
other and a briefer Report from the Connnittee on 
Foreign Relations, in which the committee expressed 
the opinion, that the Senate ought to adhere to the 
Resolution, adopted the 14th of January, to await 
the result of another appeal to the French Chambers ; 
and, in the mean time, to intimate no ulterior pur- 
pose, but to hold itself in reserve for whatever exi- 
gencies might arise. The Senate concurred in tlie 
advice of the Connnittee, who were then discharged 
from the further consideration ot the subject. 

On the 4th of February, 1335, Mr. Clay made a 
brilliant and impressive speech in the Senate upon 
the subject of a memorial, which he presented from 
certain Indians of the Cherokee tribe. The memo- 
rial set forth in eloquent and becoming terms the 
condition of the tribe, their grievances and their 
wants. It seemed, that of the remnant of this peo- 
ple then in Georgia, one portion were desirous of 
being aided to remove beyond the Mississippi, and 
the other wished to remain where they were, and to 
be removed from the rigid restrictions which the State 
of Georgia had imposed upon them. In his remarks, 
Mr. Clay eloquently alluded to the solemn treaties 
by which the possession of their lands had been se- 
cured to these Indians by our Government. The 
faith of the United States had been pledged that they 
should continue unmolested in the enjoyment of their 
hunting-grounds. In defiance of these sacred stip- 
ulations, Georgia had claimed jurisdiction over the 
tribe— had parceled out their lands and disposed of 
them by lottery — degraded the Cherokees to the 
condition of serfs — denied them all the privileges 
«f freedom, and rendered their condition infinitely 
worse than that of the African Slave. It was the 
interest as well as the pride of the master to provide 
for the health and comfort of his slave ; but what 
human being was there to care for these unfortunate 
Indians ? 

As Mr. Clay warmed in his remarks, and dwelt, 
more in sorrow than in anger, upon the wrongs and 
outrages perpetrated in Georgia upon the unoffend- 
ing aborigines within her borders, many of his hear- 
ers were affected to tears, and he himself was obvi- 
ously deeply moved. The occasion was rendered 
still more interesting by the presence of a Cherokee 
Chief and a female of the tribe, who seemed to listen 
to the orator with a painfully eager attention. In 
conclusion, Mr. Clay submitted a resolution direct- 
<«g the Commitiee on the Judiciary to inquire into 



the expediency of making farther provision by law 
to enable Indian Tribes, to whom lands had been 
securecl by treaty, to defend and maintain their rights 
to such lands in the Courts of the United States ; 
also, a resolution directing the Committee on Indian 
Affairs to inquire into the expediency of setting 
apart a district of country, west of the Mississippi, 
for such of llie Cherokee Nation as were disposed to 
emigrate, and for securing in per])etuity their peace- 
ful enjoyment thereof to themselves and their de- 
scendants. * 

'I'he oppressed Aboriginal Tribes have always 
found in Mr. Clay a friend and a champion. Al- 
though coming from a State which, in consequence 
of the numerous Indian massacres of which it has 
been the theatre, has received the appellation of 
" the dark and bloody ground," he has never suflTer- 
ed any unphilosophical prejudice against the unfor- 
tunate Red Men to blind his sense of justice or check 
the promptings of humanity. He has constantly 
been among the most active vindicators of their cause 
— the most efficient advocates of a liberal policy 
towards them. 

To General Jackson's administration we are in- 
debted for the system which makes the offices of the 
Federal Government the rewards of political parti- 
sanship, and proscribes all incumbents who may en- 
tertain opinions at variance with those of the Execu- 
tive. The Government of the United States dispo- 
ses of an annua! patronage of nearly forty millions 
of dollars. By the corrupt use of this immense fund, 
the Jackson dynasty sustained and perpetuated it- 
self in spite of the People. Here was the secret of 
its strength. Commit what violence, outrage what 
principle, assail what interests he might. President 
Jackson threw himself back upon his patronage and 
found protection. The patronage of the Press, the 
patronage of the Post Office, the patronage of the 
Custom House, with its salaries, commissions and 
fees — the patronage of the Land Office, wuh its op- 
portunities of successful speculation — these formed 
the stronghold and citadel of corrupt power. 

On the eighteenth of February, 1835, Mr. Clay 
addressed the Senate in support of the bill for the 
Abatement of Executive Patronage. His speech 
contains a striking exposition of the evils resulting 
from the selfish and despotic exercise, on the part of 
the Chief Magistrate, of the appointing and removing 
power; and is pervaded by that truly democratic 
spirit which has characterized all the public acts of 
the author. 

A bill making an appropriation for the Cumber- 
land Road was discussed in the Senate early in Feb- 
ruary. Mr. Clay spoke in favor of the appropria- 
tion, but adversely to the policy of surrendering the 
Road to the States through which it runs. 



62 



Life of Henry Clay. 



CHAPTER XV. 

SetUement of our French AfTnirs— Mr. Clay's Land Bill— His 
Speech— Passage oftlie Bill in the Senate— Abolition Petitions 
—Mr. Clay vindicates the Right t>C Petition— The Deposit 
Banks— Prediriion— Independence ot'Texns— Various questions 
—Return tn Kontuckx — Re-elected t^enator in 1S36— State of 
the CoiMilry in ISil^ and 183tj— A contrast— Administration ma- 
jority in tlie Senate— Mr. Calhoun's Land Rill— Opposition of 
Mr. Clay— Tarifl— His two Compromises— The Specie (^ircu- 
lai^Its Rescision— Benton's Expunging Resolution— Miscel- 
laneous. 

Our affairs with France occupied a considerable 
portion of President Jackson's Message to tlie 
Twenty-Fourth Congress at its first session. Mr. 
Clay was again placed at the head of the Commit- 
tee on Foreign Relations ; and on the eleventh of 
January, 183G, he introduced a resolution to the Se- 
nate, calling upon the President for information with 
regard to our affairs with France, and for the com- 
munication of certain overtures made by the French 
Government. An additional resolution was pre- 
sented by him two or three weeks afterward, calling 
for the communication of the expose which accom- 
panied the French Bill of Indenmity of the 27th of 
April, 1835; and also, copies of certain notes which 
passed between the Due de Broglie and eur Charge, 
Mr. Barton ; together with those addressed by our 
Minister, Mr. Livingston, to the French Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, or to the Secretary of State of the 
United States. These resolutions were adopted, 
with amendments. 

On the eighth of February, 1836, a Message from 
the President was received, announcing that the Go- 
vernment of Great Britain had offered its mediation 
for the adjustment of the dispute between the United 
States and France. The Message was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs ; and on the twen- 
ty-second of February, a correspondence between 
tlie Secretary of State and Mr. Bankhead, on the 
subject of British mediation, was submitted. This 
gave occasion for some remarks from JVIr. Clay, who 
said that he could not withhold the expression of 
his congratulation to the Senate, for the agency it 
had in producing the happy termination of our diffi- 
culties with France. If the Senate had not, by its 
unanimous vote of last September, declared tliat it 
was inexpedient to adopt any legislative action upon 
the subject of our relations with France ; if it had 
yielded to the recommendations of the Executive in 
ordering reprisals against that power, it could not 
be doubted but that war would have existed at that 
moment in its most serious stale. 

Mr. Clay renewed hie exertions in behalf of his 
Land Bill during this session. On the fourtecnlli 
of April, it was taken up in the Senate as the special 
order, and discussed nearly every day for a period 
of two weeks, during which he was frequently call- 
ed upon to defend and explain its provisions. His 
speech of April "iCth is remarkable for the vigor of 
its arguments and the force of its appeals. Of this ef- 
fort, the National Intelligencer said : " We thought, 
' after hearing the able and comprehensive argu- 
' merits of Messrs. Ewintr, Southard and White, in 
' favor of this beneficent measure, that the subject 
' was exhausted , that, at any rate, Imt little new 
' could be urged in its defence. Mr. ('lay, however, 
' in one of the most luminous and forcible argu- 
' ments which we have ever heard him deliver, 
' placed the subject in new lights, and gave to it new 



' claims to favor. The whole train of his reasoning 
' appeared to us a series of demonstrations." 

The Land Bill, essentially the same as that vetoed 
by General Jackson, passed the Senate the fourth of 
May, 1836, by a vote of twenty-live to twenty ; and 
was sent to the House. But the influence of the 
Executive was too potent here yet to admit of the 
passage of a measure which, though approved by 
the majority, was opposed by the President because 
of its having originated with Mr. Clay. 

The question of the right of petition came before 
the Senate early in the session. On the lllh of 
January, Mr. Buchanan presented a memorial from 
a religious Society of Friends in Pennsylvania, re- 
questing Congress to abolish Slavery and the Slave 
Trade in the District of Columbia. He moved that 
the Memorial should be read, and the prayer of the 
3Iemorialist3 be rejected. Mr. Calhoun demanded 
that the question should be first taken whether the 
petition be received or not ; and a debate, which was 
prolonged at various intervals till the 9th of March 
sprang up on this preliminary question. Before the 
question was taken, Mr. Clay briefly explained his 
views. On the subject of the right of Congress to 
abolish Slavery in the District, he was inclined lo 
think, and candor required the avowal, that the right 
did exist ; though he should take a future opportunit j 
of expressing his views in opposition to the expe- 
diency of the exercise of that power. He expressed 
his disapprobation of the motion to receive and im- 
mediately reject, made by the Senator from Penn- 
sylvania (Mr. Buchanan.) He thought that the 
right of petition required of the servants of the peo- 
ple to examine, deliberate and decide, either to 
grant or refuse the prayer of a petition, giving the 
reasons for such decision ; and that such was the 
best mode of putting an end to the agitation of the 
public on the subject. 

The question " shall the petition be received?" 
being taken, was decided in the affirmative— yeas, 
3G; nays, 10. 

Mr. Clay then oflered an amendment to Mr. Bu- 
chanan's motion to reject, in which amendment the 
principal reason why the prayer of the Memorial- 
ists could not be granted are succinctly given. The 
amendment not meeting the views of some of his 
Southern friends was subsequently withdrawn by 
Mr. Clay, who maintained, however, that he could 
not assent that Congress had no Constitutional 
power to legislate on the prayer of the petition. 
The subject was at length laid on the table by a 
vote of twenty-four to twenty; but the friends of the 
sacred, unqualified right of petition should not for- 
get that Mr. Clay has ever upheld their cause with 
with his best energies and his warmest zeal. 

A report from the Secretarv of the Treasury, 
showing the condition of the Deposit Bunks, came 
before the Senate for consideration the ITili of Marcl;, 
1836. Mr. Clay forcikdy depicted on this occasion 
the total insecurity of the vast public treasure in the 
keeping of these Banks. What was then prophccv 
became history soon afterwards. "Suppose," said 
he, " a great deik-iency of southern crops, or any 
' othercrisiscreatinganeccssity ibrthe exportation of 
' specie to Europe, instead of ihe ordinary shipments. 
' These Bariks uonld he compelled to call in their 
' issues. This vonld compel other liaitl.s to call in, 
' in like manner, and a panic and general want of 



Narrow Escape — State of the Country at the Close of Gen, Jackson's Administration. 63 



' confidence would ensue. Then what would become 
' of the public money ?" It is unnecessary to point 
to the fulfilment of these predictions. Soon after 
the deposits were removed to the i'et Banks, they 
became the basis of vast land speculations, into 
which all who could obtain a share of the Govern- 
ment money, plunged at once heels over head; 
Postmasters, Custom-House officers. Navy Agents, 
Pet Bank Directors, Cashiers and Presidents, Dis- 
trict Attorneys, Government Printers, Secretaries of 
State, Postmasters General, Attorneys General, 
President's Secretaries, and all the innumerable sti- 
pendiaries of the Administration. It was this wild 
speculation, fostered and conducted by the facilities 
(rfthe Deposit Banks, that filled the Treasury with 
unavailable funds. The experiment terminated, as 
Mr. Clay prophesied it would terminate, in univer- 
sal bankruptcy. 

On the 8th of June, Mr. Clay, from the Commit- 
tee on Foreign Relations, introduced a report with 
a resolution, for recognizing the Independence of 
Texas whenever satisfactory information should be 
received, that it had a civil Government in success- 
ful operation. Mr. Preston expressed a hope that 
the Executive was by that time in possession of such 
information; as would enable the Senate to adopt 
stronger measures than that recommended by the 
Committee ; and he submitted a resolution calling 
on the President for such information. Mr. Clay 
wished that the resolution might be taken up and 
acted on; as he would be extremely glad to receive 
information that would authoiize stronger measures 
in favor of Texas. The report of the Committee 
was concurred in; and Mr. Preston's resolution 
adopted. The result of the call upon the President 
and of the discussions that ensued, was the unani- 
mous adoption, by the Senate, on the first of July, 
of the resolution reported by Mr. Clay, witli an 
amendment by Mr. Preston adding a clause ex- 
pi-essing tlie satisfaction of the Senate, at the Pre- 
sident's having taken measures for obtaining ac- 
curate information as to the civil, military and poli- 
tical condition of Texas. Similar resolutions pass- 
ed the House the 4th of July. 

Mr. Clay spoke on a variety of questions, io ad- 
dition to those we have alluded to, during the ses- 
sion of 1834-5; on the motion to admit the Senators 
from Michigan on the floor, and the recognition of 
that clause in the Constitution of Michigan, which 
he conceived to give to aliens the right to vote ; on 
the resolution of Mr. Calhoun to inquire into the 
expediency of such a reduction of duties as would 
not aflect the Manufacturing interest ; on the Forti- 
fication Bill, &c. Congress adjourned the fourth of 
■ July, 1836. 

On his return to Kentucky a dinner was given to 
Mr. Clay by his fellow-citizens of Woodford County. 
During his absence from hoii /, he had experienced 
heavy afflictions in the death of a beloved daughter 
and of his only sister. On rising to speak, he was 
so overcome by the recollection of these losses, ad 
ded to an allusion which had been made to the re- 
mains of his mother being buried in Woodford, that 
he was obliged to resume his seat. He soon rallied, 
however, and addressed the company for about two 
hours in an animated and powerful strain. He re- 
viewed the recent acts of the Administration — their 
constant tampering with the currency — the Trea- 



sury Order, directing that all payments for landa 
should be made in specie — the injustice practised 
towards the Indian tribes — and the disgracefully 
protracted Seminole War. In conclusion, Mr. Clay 
alluded to his intended retirement from the Senate 
of the United States — an intention, which, at that 
time, he fondly cherished. 

So fixed was his wish to withdraw from public 
life, that he had, at one period, in lli.'iO, made up his 
mind to resign. It is certain, that he looked forward 
with confidence to declining a rei'-lcction ; and he 
expressed a hope at the Woodford dinner, that the 
State would turn its attention to some other citizen. 
In the autumn of 183(), Mr. Clay narrowly escaped 
a violent death. lie was riding on horseback in one 
of his fields, Surveying his cattle, when a furious 
bull, maddened from some cause or other , rushed 
towards him, and plunging his horns with tremen- 
dous force into the horse on which Mr. Clay was 
seated, killed the poor animal on the spot. The dis- 
tinguished rider was thrown to the distance of sev- 
eral feet from his horse, and, though somewhat 
hurt by the fall, escaped without material injury. 

We have already given an exposition of Mr. Clay's 
views in behalf of Colonization. In 1836, he was 
unanimously elected President of the American Co 
Ionization Society in the room of the illustrious Ex 
President Madison, deceased. He accepted the ap- 
pointment. 

During the winter of 1836, Mr. Clay was reelec^■ 
ed a Senator from Kentucky for six years from the 
ensuing fourth of March. The vote stood : for Henry 
Clay 76; for James Guthrie, the Administration can- 
didate, 54. Eight members were absent, four of 
whom, it is said, would have voted for 31r. Clay. 

The state of the Republic, toward the tenuinatiorj 
of General Jackson's second Presidential term, is 
yet vividly in the recollection of all our citizens. 
He had found the country, in 1829, in a condition 
of unexampled prosperity. The Government waa 
administered with economy strictly republican. 
Congress was the dominant power in the land. 
Commerce, Manufactures, Agriculture, flourished. 
The Banking System was in a state of remarkable 
soundness. There was no disposition to multiply 
local Banks. There was neither temptation nor 
ability for these Banks to expand their issues. The 
failure of a Bank was an occurrence as unusual as 
an earthquake. Labor was sure of employment, 
and sure of its reward. There were few brokers, 
usurers and money-lenders by profession. There 
were no speculators by profession. There were 
no immense operations in fancy stocks and land 
schemes. There was but one way of grow- 
ing rich — hard labor — assiduous industry — early 
rising — late retiring — and anxious, devoted and per- 
severing attention to business. Our habits, as a 
people, were simple and democratic. Our For- 
eign Credit was withoot a stain. The debts 
which we contracted abroad were such as we could 
pay — and paid they were with scrupulous and 
lionorable punctuality. Our Currency was, 

WITHOUT EXCEPTION, THE MOST PERFECT ON 

THE FACE OF THE GLOBE. No man ever lost a 
cent by it. It was abundant, safe, and well ac- 
credited in every part of the world. All pecuniary 
operations of Trade and Commerce were conductert 
with the most wonderful facility and regularity 



M 



Life of Henry Clay. 



Gold and silver were in free circulation, and there 
was at all times an abundant supply of the smaller 
coins. Millions on millions of exchanges were 
negotiated in every quarter of the country, and at 
an average rate of one-half or one per cent. — a 
charge merely noniinul in comparison with the sub- 
sequent rates. The whole machinery of Society, 
Government, Trade and Currency Vas in a state as 
nearly approaching perfection as human v.'isdom 
and ingenuity could compass. 

Such was the condition of the Republic in 1829. 
Then the destroyer came — and all was blasted. 
For eight years he managed the affairs of the 
country in his own way; and his will was the 

LAW OF THK LAND. 

During those eight years, what a change came 
over our affairs I The whole machinery of Cur- 
rency, Trade and Government was deranged. The 
land was flooded with three or four hundred millions 
of irredeemable paper. The smaller coins disap- 
peared. Specie payments were universally sus- 
pended; and gold and silver were no more a cur- 
rency than amethysts and diamonds. In trade, 
every thing ran into speculation. Banks sprang 
up like mushrooms on every side. Any two men 
who could write their names so as to sign and 
endorse a piece of paper, were enabled to procure 
' facilities,' which generally turned out to be facili- 
ties for their own destruction. Brokers, usurers, 
money-lenders, speculators multiplied till their 
name was Legion. Every thing was unnaturally 
distended, until, at length, trade came to a dead 
etand. No one wanted to buy, and every bodj' was 
afraid to sell. There was an utter stagnation, 
paralysis, extinction, of business. Thousands on 
thousands declared themselves individually bank- 
rupt. As a nation, we were notoriously and 
miserably bankrupt — and we had hardly foreign 
credit enough to make it either safe or decent for 
any American to cross the Atlantic. 

In Government, a revolution no less pernicious 
was accomplished. Congress became a mere step- 
ping-stone to lucrative appointments, and the 
session was merely a convenient reunion of its 
Members for the better arrangement of their land 
speculations, and the more convenient distribution 
of the Government Deposits among the most ac- 
commodating Banks. The heart of our Govern- 
ment was rotten to its core — and, like our Currency 
and our Trade, it presented but a miserable contrast 
to the condition of 1820. And all these revolutions 
were brought about by the uncontrolled ascendency 
of Jacksonism, and by no other agency under heaven ! 

Notwithstanding these deplorable issues, the end 
was not yet. The Jackson dynasty was to be per- 
petuated still another term in the hands of him who 
was proud to follow in the footsteps of liis " illus- 
trious predcces.sor." The Presidential Election of 
18:36 terminated in tiie choice of iMartin Van Buren. 
But we are anticipating matters. We have yet the 
short Session of Congress of 183G-7 to review, be- 
fore we take leave of the " Hero of New-Orleans." 

The Administration had now a majority in the 
Senate. That noble phalanx of Whigs, who had 
so undauntedly withstood the usurpations of the 
Executive, could now only operate a« a minority. 
One of the first acts of Mr. Clay was to reintroduce 
his Land Bill. On the 19th of December, in pur- 



suance of previous notice, he presented it witV 
modifications suited to the changes in Public Affairsi 
It was read twice and referred to the Committee <n 
Public Lands, — at the h^ad of which was Mr 
Walker of Mississippi, who, on the 3d of January, 
gave notice that he was instructed by the Commit^ 
tee to move for the indefinite postponement of the 
bill, when it should come up for consideratiorK 
Some days afterward, Mr. Walker introduced his 
bill to limit the sales of the Public Lands, except 
to actual settlers, and in limited quantities; and os 
the 9ih of February, 1837, Mr. Calhoun's extraor- 
dinary bill, nominally selling, but in reality givim 
to the new States all the Public Domain, came 
before the Senate. 

Mr. Clay took ground at once against this scheme. 
He said that four or five years before, contrary to his 
earnest desire, this subject of the Public Lands was 
forced upon him, and he had, with great labor, 
devised a plan fraught with equity to all the States. 
It received the votes of a majority of both Houses, 
and was rejected by the President. He had always 
considered the Public Domain a sacred trust for the 
country and for posterity. He was opposed to any 
measure giving away this property for the benefit of 
speculators; and he was tlierefore opposed to this 
bill, as well as to the other (Mr. Walker's) before 
the Senate. He had hitherto labored in vain — but 
he should continue to oppose all these schemes for 
robbing the old States of their rightful possessions. 
He besought the Senate to abstain from these ap- 
peals to the cupidity of the new States from party 
inducements ; and he appealed to the Senator from 
South Carolina whether, if he offered them higher 
and better boons than the party in power, he did not 
risk the imputation of being actuated by such in- 
ducements. 

Fortunately for the country, the rash project of 
Mr. Calhoun did not reach the maturity of a third 
reading. 

On the 2.i)th of February, the bill from the Com- 
mittee on Finance to alter and amend the several 
acts imposing duties on imposts being before the 
Senate, Mr. Clay spoke against the measure at 
some length. His principal objection arose from 
what he conceived to be the interference of some of 
the provisions of the bill with the Compromise Act 
of 1833. In the course of his remarks, he gave an 
interesting account of his own connection with that 
important measure. 

He then went on to draw a striking parallel be- 
tween the Compromise Act of 1833 as to the Pro- 
tective System, and that other Compromise Act 
which settled the much agitated Missouri Question, 
and by which the latitude of 36 degrees 30 minutes 
was established as the extreme boundary for the 
existence of Slavery in that State. Had not Con- 
gress a right to repeal that law ? But what would 
those Southern gentlemen, who now so strenuously 
urged a violation ot our implied faith in regard to 
the act of '33, say if a measure like that should be 
attempted ? 

Mr. Clay concluded with a motion to re-commit 
the bill foi the reduction of duties to the Cow'v'-'ee 
on Finance, with instructions to strike out all tlioee 
articles comprised in tlie bill, which then paid a duty 
of 20 percent, and upwards, embraced in the Com- 
promise Act. The motion was lost — 25 Nays to 24 



The Expunging Resolution — Mr. Van Bitren Elected President. 



G5 



Yeas; and the bill wns the"' same day passed by a 
a vote of 27 to 18. 

Early in the Session, Mr. Ewinjf had introduced a 
Joint Resolution rescinding the Tieasury order by 
which all j>a:yment9 for Public Lands were to be 
made in specie. On the 11th of January, Mr. Clay 
addressed the Senate in a speech rej>lctc with argu- 
ment and facts in support of the Resolution, and in 
opposition to an amendment, which had been oflercd 
bv Mr. Rives. The Resolution was referred to the 
Committee on Public Lands, who instructed their 
Chairman to lay it on the table when it should come 
up. On the 18th of January, a bill rescinding tlie 
Specie Circular was reported by Mr. Walker. It 
subsequently passed the Senate, with some slight 
amendments, by a vote of 41 to 5; and received the 
sanction of the other House ; but notwithstanding 
this fact, and the additional well-known fact, that the 
order had been originally promulgated in defiance of 
the opinion of Congress and the wishes of the people, 
the bill, " instead of being returned to the House in 
which it originated, according to the requirement of 
the Constitution, was sent to one of the pigeon-holes 
of the Department of State, to be filed away with an 
opinion of a convenient Attorney-General, always 
ready to prepare one in support of Executive en- 
croachment." 

Mr. Van Buren manifested the same contempt for 
the will of the people, expressed by Congress, as 
had been shown by his " illustrious predecessor," 
and refused to interfere until the Specie Circular re- 
pealed itself in the catastrophe of an universal sus- 
pension. 

On the 12ih of January, a Resolution, ofTered by 
Mr. Benton, to ctpunge from the journals of the Sen- 
ate for 1833-4, Mr. Clay's Resolution censuring 
President Jackson for his unautliorized Removal of 
the Public Deposits came before the Senate for con- 
sideration; and on the 16th Mr. Clay discussed the 
question at considerable length. His speech was in 
a strain of mingled sarcasm and indignant invective, 
which made the subservient majority wriths under 
its scorching power. Never was a measure placed 
in a more contemptible light than was the expung- 
ing proposal by Mr. Clay. Those who heard him, 
can never forget the look and tone, varying from an 
expression of majestic scorn to one of good-humored 
satire, with which he gave utterance to the following 
eloquent passages : 

" What patriotic purpose is to be accomplished 
by this expunging Resolution? Can you make that 
not to be which has been ? Can you eradicate from 
memory and from history the fact that in March, 1834, 
a majority of the Senate of the United Slates passed 
the Resolution which excites your enmity ? Is it 
your vain and wicked object to arrogate to yourself 
that power of annihilating the past which has been 
denied to Omnipotence itself? Do you intend to 
thrust your hands into our hearts and to pluck out 
the dee'ply-rooted convictions which are there ? Or 
is it your design merely to stigmatize us? You can- 
not stigmatize US : 

•"Ne'er yet did base dishonor blur ourname. 
" Standing securely upon our conscious rectitude, 
and bearing aloft the shield of the Constitution of 
our Country, your punv efforts are impotent, and vve 
<lefy all your power. "Put the majority of 1834 in 
one scale, and that by which this Expunging Reso- 
tion is to be carried in the other, and let Truth and 
Justice, in Heaven above, and on earth below, and 
iiberty and patriotism, de<:ide the preponderance. 



" What patriotic purpose is to be accomplished by 
this expunging resolution? Is it to appease th'j 
wrath and to heal the wounded pride of the Chief 
ftlagislrate ? If he be really tlie hero that his fi'ii\nda 
represent him he must despise all mean condescen- 
sion, 111! grovelling sycophancy, all self-degradation, 
and self-ubasemcnt. He would reject, with scorn 
and contempt as unworthy of his fame, your black 
scratches, and your baby lines in the fair records of 
his country." 

The Expunging Resolution was passed ; but no 
one will envy the immortality, to which the " knights 
of the black lines " have been consigned. 

Mr. Clay addressed the Senate upon several other 
important questions during the session of 183l>-7. — 
Among them were that upon the Fortification Bill, 
which was returned to the Senate after the House 
had insisted on the clause for a second Distribution 
of the Surplus Revenue ; and the Resolution from 
the Committee on B'oreign Relations, on the subject 
of our affairs with Mexico. 



CHAPTER XVL 

Presidential Campaign of 1836— Mr. Clay declines bein? a Can- 
didate— Result— Mr. Van Buren's I'olicy— A Retrospect— De- 
mocratic Doctrine— Issue of the " Experiment"— The Extra 

Session Mr. Van Buren's Message The Sub-Treasury 

Scheme — Indications of a Split in the House — Discussion of tlie 
Sub-Treasury Bill— Mr. Clay's Speeches— His Resolution in 
relation to a Bank— Treasury Notes— Session of 1837-8— Defeat 
of the Sub-Treasury Measure— Mr. Clay's Review of the Fi 
nancial Projects of the Administration— Various subjects— His 
outline of a plan for a National Bank— Mr. Clay's course on 
the Abolition Cluestion— His visit to New-York in the Summer 
of 1839— Cordial Reception, by the People, of the " Man of the 
People." 

Mr. Clay had uniformly discouraged the attempts 
of his friends to induce him to become a candidate 
for the Presidency in the campaign of 1836. He 
saw the unhappy diversity in the ranks of the Oppo- 
sition ; and he saw, perhaps, the inevitable ability of 
the Jackson dynasty to perpetuate itself in the ele- 
vation of Mr. Van Buren. So potent had the Execu- 
tive become, through usurpation and the abuse of 
patronage ! 

On the eighth of February, that being the day ap- 
pointed by statute for opening the Electoral Returns 
for the Presidency and Vice Presidency of the Uni- 
ted States, tne result was proclaimed in the presence 
of both Houses of Congress. The following was 
ascertained to be the state of the vote : 

For President. Vice President. 

Van Buren 1701 Johnson 147 

Han-ison 73 Granger 77 

White 26 Tyler 47 

Webster 14 Smith 83 

Mangum _11 

2941 234 

It was then declared that it appeared that Martia 
Van Buren had been duly elected President of the 
United States, for four years from the 4th of March, 
1837 ; and that no person had a majority of all the 
votes for the Vice Presidency, and that Mr. Johnson 
and Mr. Granger had the largest number of votes of 
all the candidates. Mr. Johnson was afterward duly 
chosen. 

It had been hoped by many that under Mr. Van 
Buren a less destructive policy would be adopted 
than that which had signalized the reign of tlie 
'• Hero of New-Orleans." For the last eight yeara 
the country had been governed by Executive edicts. 
Congress had always been disposed to do right, but 
it had been thwarted by a domineering and usurping 
Executive. The will of the People, constitutioaally 



66 



Life of Henry Clay. 



avowed, had been constantly defeated hy the impe- 
rious and impetuous objections of one fallible and 
passionate old man. 

Congress parsed Mr. Clay's Land Bill ; but the 
Executive destroyed it. 

Congress said that the Deposits were safe in the 
Bank of the United States ; the Executive removed 
them. 

Congress refused to issue a Specie Circular; it 
was issued by the Executive. 

Congress rescinded tlie Specie Circular; and the 
Executive defeated that rescision. 

Now the doctrine of Thomas Jefferson, as adopted 
and always acted upon by Henry Clay, is, that the 

^VILL OF THE MAJORITY, HONESTLY EXPRESSED, 

SHALL GIVE LAW. But Congress had no influence 
in the Government during the pernicious ascenden- 
cy of Jacksonism. It came together to pass appro- 
priation bills, and register the decrees of the Chief 
Magistrate. The noble majority in the Senate, for a 
while, prevented much mischief, but they could 
originate and prosecute no settled policy, in conse- 
quence of the Administration mnjority in the other 
branch. We livtd literally under Executive Legis- 
lation. Where the President could not veto, he 
could do some act of violence, and compel Congress 
cither to leave the country without law or to adapt 
its legislation to the existing exigencies. Thus he 
could not prevail on Congress to remove the De- 
posits — but when they were removed, to " furnish 
an instrument of power to himself and of plunder 
to his partisans" — Congress was compelled either 
to leave them without law, or to pass laws for the 
regulation of new depositions. 

The hopes that had been entertained of a reform 
under Mr. Van Buren proved fallacious; but his at- 
tempt to march in the "seven-leagued boots" of his 
predecessor speedily resulted in a ridiculous fail- 
ure. He was tripped up at the very start. 

The disastrous condition in which the country 
was left by the "hero of New-Orleans," whose 
" humble efforts" to improve the Currency had re- 
sulted in the universal prostration of business, and a 
suspension of specie payments, called upon his 
successor in the Presidential chair for some im- 
mediate measure of relief. On the 15th of May. 
1837, Mr. Van Buren issued his Proclamation 
wdering an extraordinary session of Congress, to 
commence the first Monday in September. In 
accordance with that Proclamation, both Houses 
of Congress met at the Capitol on the day appoint- 
ed ; and the Message recommending the Sub-Trea- 
sfURY System for the deposit, transfer and disburse^ 
ment of the Public Revenue, was transmitted by the 
President. The consequence was an instantaneous 
loss of his majority in the HouSe of Representatives. 

In the election of Speaker, at the commencement 
of the Extra Session, 224 members voted, making 
113 necessary to a choice. Mr. Polk received 116 
votes, and was elected. Then came the Sub-Trea- 
sury Message , and the vote on the election of Prin- 
ter indicated a sudden disaffection in the ranks, and 
a general breaking up of the Administration party. 
On the twelfth and final balloting, Thomas Allen, 
the Editor of the Madisonian, was elected over the 
Van Buren candidates, Blair and Rives. A deci- 
ded majority of the House had been elected as friends 
of Mr. Van Buren ; but so alarming seemed his 



Sub-Treasury plan, which was in other words, a 
scheme for placing the Public Purse under theonn- 
trol of the President, that he was defeated in the 
very first party vote after the election of Speaker. 

The leading topic of the session was of course the 
new Sub-Treasury project; and it was discussed in 
the Senate with great ability on both sides. By this 
bill, the Treasury of the United States the Trea- 
surers of the JMint and its Branches, Collectors, Re- 
ceivers, Postmasters, and other office-holders, were 
commissioned to receive in specie and keep, subject 
to the draft of the proper Department, all public 
moneys coming into their hands, irstead of deposit- 
ing them, as heretofore, in Banks. Among the 
earliest and most prominent advocates of this mea- • 
sure was Mr. Calhoun, who suddenly found himself 
one of the leaders of a party, which for the last five 
or six years he had been denouncing as the most 
corrupt that had ever cursed a country. 

The bill was taken up in the Senate the 20th Sep- 
tember; and on the 25th, Blr. Clay spoke in opposi- 
tion to this audacious and Anti-Republican scheme. 
In this admirable speech he went at length into an 
examination of the causes that had led to the exist- 
ing disiistrous state of public affairs. To the finan- 
cial experiments of General Jackson, he traced back 
unerringly the consequent inflation of the currency — 
the wild speculations, which had risen to their height 
when they began to be checked by the preparations 
of the Local Banks, necessary to meet the Deposit 
Law of June, 1836 — the final suspension of specie 
payments — and all the disorders in the Currency, 
Commerce and general business of the country, that 
ensued. He then gave his objections to the schema 
before the Senate. It proposed one Currency for the 
Government and another for the people. As well 
might it be attempted to make the Government 
breathe a different air, be lit and warmed by a dif- 
ferent sun from the People ! A hard-money Govern- 
ment and a paper-money People ! A Government, 
an official corps — the servants of the People — glit- 
tering in gold, and the People themselves, their mas- 
ters, buried in ruin, and surrounded by rags ! By 
the proposed substitution of an exclusive metallic 
Currency for the mixed medium, all property would 
be reduced in value to one-third of its present nom- 
inal amount; and every debtor would in effect have 
to pay three times as much as he had contracted 
for. Then there was the insecurity of the system — 
the liability to favoritism in the fiscal negotiations — 
the fearful increase of Executive patronage — the ab- 
solute and complete imion of the Purse and the 
Sword in the hands of the President! All these ob- 
jections were most powerfully elucidated and en- 
forced by Mr. Clay. 

He then proceeded to declare what he believed t© 
be the only efficient measure for restoring a sound 
and uniform Currency, which was a I'nited Stales 
Bank, established under such restrictions, as the 
lights of recent experience might suggest. "But," 
said Mr. Clay, " if a National Bank be established, 
'its stability and its utility will depend upon the 
'general conviction which is felt oi its necessity. 
' And vntil stick a conviction is deeply impressed 
' npon the People, and clearly manifested I'y them, 
' it icould, in my judgment, be unwise even to pro- 
' pose a Bank." 

On the 4th of October the Sub-Treasury BiJl, af 



The Suh-Treasury Project— Outline of a National Bank. 



67 



ter undergoing various amendments, wa3 read a 
third time and passed by the Senate by a vote of 25 
to 20. It was taken up in the House on the 10th of 
October, and, on the 14th, laid on the table by a 
vote ofl20tol07. 

The defeat of this measure in tlie teeth of the 
Executive recommendation, in spite of Executive | 
blandishment and terrors — the triumph of the ma- 
jority without doors over the majority within, 
and of both over patronage and power — revived tlie 
dvina; hopes of the patriot and infused new life into 
our Constitution. Tlie sceptre of misrule had crum- 
bled. The dynasty, which for nearly nine years 
had misruled the country, received on that occasion 
its immedicable wound. 

A resolution reported by Mr. Wright from the 
Committee on Finance, in relation to the petitions 
for a National Bank, was called up in the Senate 
the 26th of September. The resolution declared 
that the prayer of the memorialists ought not to be 
granted. In his remarks upon this subject, Mr. Clay 
alluded to the ease in which Mr. Randolph moved 
in the House of Representatives a similar negative 
resolution — " That it is inexpedient to declare war 
against Great Britain." Mr. Clay said, that if Mr. 
W. persisted in his resolution, he should move to 
strike out all after the word Resolved, and substi- 
tute : " that it will be expedient to establish a Bank 
of the United States trhenever it shall be manifest 
that a clear majority of the People of the United 
States desire such an Institution.'" The motion 
was subsequently made and lost ; and Mr. Wright's 
resolution was adopted. The party then in power 
seem to have had but little reverence for the wishes | 
of a " clear majority of the people of the United 
States." 

The Extra Session lasted sLx weeks— Congress 
adjourning on the morning of the 16th of October. 
The measure, on which the hopes and fate of the 
Administration were staked, had been defeated. 

The Sub-Treasury project came again before the 
Twenty-Fifth Congress, at their Second Session. 
The 19th of February, 1838, Mr. Clay once more 
addressed the Senate in opposition to the measure. 
This Speech is one of the longest and ablest ever 
delivered by him. At the commencement he slated 
certain propositions, which he would proceed to 
demonstrate. He contended— 

1st. That it was the deliberate purpose and fixed 
design of the late Administration to establish a Gov- 
ernrnent — a Treasury Bank— to be administered and 
c^)ntrolled by the Executive Department. 

2d. That, with tliat view, and to that end, it was 
its aim and intention to overthrow the whole Bank- 
in"- System, as existing in the United States when 



the Administration came into power, beginning witli 
the Bank of the United States, and ending witli the 
State Banks. 

3d. That the attack was first confined, trom con- 
siderations of policy, to the Bank of the United 
States; but that, after its overthrow was accom- 
plished, it was then directed, and had since been 
continued, asainst the State Banks. 

4th. That'the present Administration, by its ac- 
knowledgements, emanating from the highest and 
most authentic source, had succeeded to the princi- 
ples, plans and policy of the preceding Adminis- 
tration, and stood solemnly pledged to complete 
and perfect them. And, 

5th. That the bill under consideration was intended 
to execute the pledge, by establishing, upon the ruins 



of the late Bank of the United States, and the State 
Banks, a Government Bank, to he managed and con- 
trolled by the Treasury Department, acting under 
the commands of the President of the United States. 
The manner in which Mr. Clay proceeded to sus- 
tain these charges against the Administration was 
extremely impressive. That ho made out his case 
satisfactorily to tlie People, subsequent events fully 
demonstrated. 

Mr. Clay appears to have addressed the Senate 
on every question of moment that claimed its atten- 
tion diuing the Session of 1837-8; on the reception 
of petitions for the Abolition of Slavery, in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia— the bill to restrain the issuing of 
small notes in the District — the disturbances on the 
Northern frontier, and the attack on the Caroline, an 
act which he denounced in the most unmeasured 
terms — the bill to grant preemption rights to set- 
tlers on the Public Lands — the bill to establish the 
Oregon Territory — in favor of the bill to prohibit 
the giving or accepting a challenge to fight a duel 
in the District of Columbia — against tho hill pro- 
viding for the graduation and reduction of the price 
of the Public Lands — and on many other subjects 
of hardly inferior interest. 

A Joint Resolution, offered by him on the 30th ot 
April, providing for the reception of the notes of 
sound Banks in the collection of the Pi,evenue, was 
adopted by the Senate, with some amendments, the 
29th of May. It was in effect a repeal of the Spe- 
cie Circular. 

In the course of the Session Mr. Clay took occa- 
sion, in presenting a petition for the establishment 
of a United States Bank, to make known his own 
views in regard to such an institution. Some of the 
conditions and restrictions, under which it seemed 
to him suitable to establish such a Bank, were 
briefly given in the following sketch : 

1. The capital not to be extravagantly large, but, 
at the same time, amply sufficient to enable it to per- 
form the needful financial duties for the Govern- 
ment; to supply a general currency of uniform 
value throughout the Union; and to facilitate, as 
nigh as practicable, the equalization of Domestic 
Exchange. He supposed that about fifty millions 
would answer all those purposes. The Stock might 
be divided between the General Government, the 
States, according to their federal population, and 
individual subscribers ; the portion assigned to the 
latter to be distributed at auction or by private sub- 
scription. 

2. The Corporation to receive such an organiza- 
tion as to blend, in fair proportions, public and pri- 
vate control, and combining public and private in- 
terests ; and, in order to exclude the possibili~ 
ty of the exercise of any foreign influence, non^ 
resident foreigners to be prohibited not only fronQ\ 
any share in the administration of the CorporatioHj, 
but from holding, directly or indirectly, any portion, 
of its stock. Tlie Bank would thus be in its origin,, 
and continue throughout its whole existence, a gen- 
uine American Institution. 

3. An adequate portion of the capital to be set 
apart in productive stocks, and placed in permanent 
security, beyond the reach of the corporation (with 
the exception of the accruing profits on those stocks) 
sufficient to pay promptly, in any contingency, the 
amount of all such paper, under whatever form, 
that the Bank shall put forth as a part of the gen- 
eral circulation. The bill or note holders, in other 
words, the mass of the community, ought to be pro- 
tected against the possibility of" the failure or the 
suspension of the Bank. The supply of the circu- 
lating medium of a country is that faculty of a 



-£8 



Life of Henry Clay. 



Bank, the property or the exercise of which may be 
most controverted. The tieulinsre with a Bank of 
those who obtain (li?counts, or make deposits, are 
voluntary and mutually advantaRCOu? ; and thny are 
comparatively (cw in number. But the reception of 
what is issued and used as a part of the circulating 
medium of the country, is scarcely a voluntary act; 
and thousands take it who have no other concern 
whatever with the Bank. Tiic many ought to be 
guarded and secured by the care of the legislative 
authority; the vigilance of the feic will secure 
.themselves against loss. 

4. Perfect publicity as to the state of the Bank at 
all times, including, besides the usual heads of in- 

. formation, the names of every debtor to the Bank, 
whether as drawer, endorser or surety, periodically 
exhibited, and open to public inspection; or, if that 
should be found inconvenient, the right to be se- 
cured to any citizen to ascertain at the Bank the 
aature and extent of the responsibility of any of its 
customers. There is no necessity to to throw any 
veil of secresy around the ordinary transactions of a 
Bank. Publicity will increase responsibility, re- 
press favoritism, insure the negotiation of good pa- 
per, and, when individual insolvency unfortunately 
occurs, will deprive the Bank of undue advantages 
MOW enjoyed by Banks practically iu the distribu- 
lion of the efilects of the insolvent. 

5. A limitation of the dividends so as not to au- 
' thorize more than — per cent to be struck. This 

will check undue expansions in the medium, and re- 
■ strain improper extension of business in Uie admin- 
istration of the Bank. 

6. A prospective reduction in the rate of interest, 
so as to restrict the Bank to six per cent simply, or, 
if practicable, to only five per cent. The reduction 
may be eifected by forbearing to exact any bonus, or, 
when the profits are likely to exceed the prescribed 
limit of the dividends, by requiring the rates of inter- 
est shall be so lowered as that they shall not pass 
that limit. 

7. A restriction upon the premium demanded upon 
post notes and checks used for remittances, so that 
the maximum should not be more than, say one and 
a half per cent between any two of the remotest 
points in the Union. Although it may not be prac- 
ticable to regulate Foreign Exchange, depending as 
it does upon commercial causes not within the con- 
trol of any one government, it is otherwise with re- 
gard to Domestic Exchange. 

8. Every practicable provision against the exercise 
of improper influence, on the part of the Executive, 
upon the Bank, and, on the part of the Bank, upon 
the elections of the country. The people entertain 
a just jealousy against the danger of any interfer- 
ence of a Bank with the elections of a country, and 
every precaution ought to be taken strictly to guard 
against it. 

This was a brief outline of such a Bank as Mr. 
'• Clay thought would, if established, conduce greatly 
s-lo'slhs^rospcdty of the country. Its wise and prov- 
"TSem restrictions would seem to preclude all those 
popular objections which generally apply to banks. 
With regard to the constitutionality of a National 
Sank, Mr. Clay said, that forty years of acquiescence 
hy the people — the maintenance of the power by 
Washington, tlie Father of his Country ; by Madison, 
.the Father of the Constitution; and by Marshall, the 
Falher of the Judiciary, ought to be precedents suf- 
ficient in its favor. 

The Abolition question was agitated in the Senate 
during the last Session of the 25th Congress. Mr. 
Clay had been urged by many of his friends to re- 
frain from speaking on the sulyect. It was repre- 
sented to him as impolitic, superfluous, and likely 
to interfere with his Presidential prospects. Such 
ursutnents could have no weight with him. 



His whole course upon this perilous question haa 
been that of the honest, upright, practical and con- 
sistent statesman, the true philanthropist, the sa- 
gacious and devoted patriot. When Mr. Culhoun 
introduced, in llie Session of 1835-6, his bill to give 
Postmasters and their Deputies a power of inspec- 
tion and espionage over the Mails — the bill which 
was passed to its third reading by the casting vote 
of Martin Van Buren — it met with the prompt and 
decided condemnation of Mr. Clay. No man has 
more vigilantly watched the sacred Right of Peti- 
tion than Mr. Clay. He has condemned on all oc- 
casions the refusal of the Senate to receive petitions. 
His speech of February, 1839, yields to the Aboli- 
tionists all that they have a right to demand, and is 
at the same time so liberal in its doctrines as to dis- 
arm the ultraism of Southern hostility. Mr. Cal- 
houn himself was compelled to admit his acquies- 
cence in the soundness of its doctrines and the secu- 
rity which their adoption would promise to the Un- 
ion. The enemies of Mr. Clay denounced this move- 
ment on die Abolition question as an efibrt to achieve 
popularity. They reasoned from the inevitable re- 
sult, to an unworthy inducement. To impute un- 
worthy moiivcs to Mr. Clay because of sucii a result 
was to impeacli the purity of all public action, and 
to confine the statesman, who would preserve his po- 
litical reputation, to the advocacy of unwise and un- 
popular measures. Popularity did follow the pro- 
mulgation of such sentiments as are contained in 
the speech of Mr. Clay — the popularity which all 
good men desire-— the popularity of which all great 
men may be prond — the popularity based upon grat- 
itude for distinguLshed service, admiration for com- 
manding eloquence, and the eternal sympathies of 
the PEOPLE with the patriot. 

In the summer of 1839, Mr. Clay visited Buffalo, 
and passing into Canada, made an excursion to 
Blontreal and Quebec. Returning, he visited the 
city of New-York. He had the previous summer 
been invited, at an enthusiastic meeting of his friends 
at Masonic Hall, to visit the city, but had then been 
unable to comply with their invitation. His recep- 
tion at the period to which we now refer, was one of 
the most brilliant ever extended to a public man. 
Early in the afternoon ho was landed at the foot of 
Hammond-street, Greenwich, from the steamboat 
James Madison, attended by a large number of cit- 
izens. An immense multitude was assembled to 
greet his arrival, and, as he stepped on the wharf, 
the air was rent with acclamations from a myriad of 
voices. The day was most propitious. At Green- 
wich, a procession was formed headed by marshals, 
after whom came a numerous cavalcade. A band of 
music preceded the open barouche of Mr. Clay, and 
avast concourse of citizens followed in carriages. 
Everything in the city, in the shape of a four-wheeled 
vehicle was in attendance, and tens of thousands of 
citizens followed on foot. When the head of the 
procession reached the Astor House, the rear had 
not yet formed in line. Through the whole extent 
from the point of landing, through Hudson-street, 
up Fourteenth-street to Union Place, and down 
Broadway to the Park, a distance of nearly three 
miles, it was at one and the same time a dense mo- 
ving mass of horsemen, carriages, carmen and cit- 
izens. Every window on cither side of the way was 
occupied, and acclamations from e\ary house, b.v.i 



Presidential Contests of 1821, '32.— r^c Harrisburg Convcutibn of 1839. 



69 



the waving of hanrikerchicfs, and cordial saliitationp, 
greeted the illustrious S(atesman as he j)asse(l. At 
Constitution Hall, at Masonic Hall, and at every 
place of public resort and amusement, flags were 
displayed, and hands of music were stationed to hail 
his approach. 

As he reached the Park, the tens of thousands 
who thronged the grounds, the windows and roofs 
of the surrounding ediiices, the adjacent strentp, and 
the large open space at the junction of Chatham- 
street and Broadway, thundered out the miglity wel- 
come of a grateful people to the gallant, generous, 
warm-hearted and noble-minded citizen, whose life 
had been devoted to their service. 

The reception was purely a civic one. It was not 
B. got-tip, official pageant, where the populace exhi- 
bit their gratitude by an invitation of the Common 
Council, and display a certain amount of enthusi- 
asm duly provided for by the resolves and ordinan- 
ces of the Corporation. It was the voluntary, un- 
bought, nnbidden movement of the People, to greet 
the arrival among them of one, who had ever been 
eu.inently the Man of the People. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



The Harrisbiire Convention— Mr. CIsy the choice of the People 
— I'residentitil Contents of 182-4 nml 1822— Intriffucs in the Cmi- 
ventaon-Meuns employed to thwart the Nonrinr.tion oi Mr. 
Clay— Organizfition of the Convention— Noniinntion of Gene- 
ral Harrison — Acquiescence of the Kentucky Delepation— J'.r. 
Clay's Letter— Remarks of Gov. Barhour, 'S\r. Leigh, Mr. Liv- 
ingston— John Tyler Nominated for the Vice Presidencv— 
Grounds of the Nomination. 

As the period of another Presidential Election 
drew near, that vast portion of the Democracy of the 
land, opposed to the administration of Mr. Van J3ii- 
ren, began to turn their eyes towards the most able, 
renowned and consistent of their leaders, Henry 
Clay, as a fitting candidate for the Chief Blagistracy 
of the United States. The Champion of the People, 
their interests and their honor, during the Last War 
— the Preserver of the Union on two momentous oc- 
casions, when it was threatened with Dissolution 
aud Civil War — the Founder and vigilant Protector 
of the American System— the Friend of Internal Im- 
provements — the intelligent Advocate of a Sound, 
Uniform, Republican Currency, and of a Judicious 
Tariflf— the experienced Statesman, who, at Ghent, 
and in the Department of State, had displayed the 
highest order of talents in the service of his country 
— the active Foe of Executive Usurpation — the chiv- 
alrous Defender of the Constitution and the Laws, 
who, in his public career, had ever manifested his 
obedience to the principle that the WILL OF THE 
PEOPLE, faithfully expressed, should give Law — 
the Vindicator of Human Liberty throughout the 
World — WHO could present claims so numerous, 
so powerful, so overwhelming, upon the gratitude, 
confidence and suffrages of the People of the United 
States ? 

The fact of his having been in two instances an 
unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency, was the 
only objection worthy of notice, which was brought 
forward by those who, while they professsd to admit 
his claims, and to accord with him in his political 
creed, were doubtful of the expediency of his nomi- 
nation. But what were tlie facts in regard to those 
two instances ? In tlie election of 1324, be failed in 



being elected by the Primary Colleges, in company 
with John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and 
William H. Crawford. So that the argument iu this 
case would luivc been as valid against any one of 
these candidates as it can be against i\Ir. Clay. He 
was excluded from being one of the three highest 
candidate.^, who were returned to the House on this 
occasion, by being tinfairlij deprived of Electoral 
VotcR in New-York and Louisiana. It was, more- 
over, well known that, il' the Election were carried 
to the House, Mr. Clay would, as the natural result 
of his great popularity, be elected. The friends of 
all the other candidates, consequently, had a united 
interest in excluding him. 

With regard to the contest of 1832, the reelection 
of Gen. Jackson at that time could not be construed 
into an indication "of popular fueling towards Mr. 
Clay. The ^' Hero of New-Orleans" had, during 
his first term, just eiitered upon his novel experi- 
ments in the Currency; and a greatpartof the People- 
were disposed to give them a fair trial, and afford 
him an opportunity to carry out the policy he had 
commenced. The patronage of the Executive was 
directed, to an extent wholly unparalleled, towards 
the continuance of the sceptre in his hands. Nulli- 
fication had begun to show its menacing face, and 
there were many, even among those who were hos- 
tile to the general policy of the Administration, and 
friendly to Mr. Clay, who yet unwisely diought thai; 
strenuous measures towards South Carolina would 
be required, and that the Union would be safest un- 
der the direction of a Military Chief Magistrate. 

In addition to these circumstances, the party op- 
posed to G<-n. Jackson was distracted by Anti-Ma- ^ 
sonry, which presented an excellent and popular 
candidate for President in Williain Wirt. 

These two elections are all iu which Mr. Clay 
has been a candidate for the Presidency, and in nei- 
ther did he have a iiiir field. He has been nearly 
twenty times a candidate for the suffrages of the 
People, and oidy on these two occasions defeated. 
IMr. Van Buren, with a clear field and the whole pa 
tronage of the Government in his own hands, failed 
in the election of 1840. 

How ridiculous, then, to assert that the Presiden- 
tial contests of 1824 and 1832 afford any test of Mr. 
Clay's present strength with the People of the Uni- 
ted States ! Let it be borne in mind, moreover, that 
since the" period of his last candidacy he has render- 
ed the most memorable services to the country ; and 
that he comes before the people endued with many 
new claims upon their gratitude and support. 

The Democratic Whig Convention for the nomi- 
nation of a Presidential Candidate, met at Harris- 
burgh, on the 4th of December, 1839. That they 
represented a constituency, two-thirds of which 
were in favor of the nomination of Henry Clay, we 
cannot entertain a doubt. But soon after the as- 
sembling of the Convention, intrigues were set on 
foot by an adroit few for the selection of some other 
candidate. It was contended by these men that 
Mr. Clay was deficient in popular strength , and 
they would soothingly add, that he was too good 
and great a man ever to be made President. 

One word in regard to this argument, which we 
often hear from the lips oi \)ersona professing an at- 
tachment to Democratic principles. It is a gross 
libel on the intelligence of the people, and is found. 



70 



Life of Henry Ch:v 



ed in a supercilious distrust of their competency to 
self-government. Communities may be deluded, 
and Republics, through error, be ungrateful for 
a time, but so surely as truth prevails, as prevail it 
must, will they make amends for their injustice. 
The sentiment of generosity ia strong in the breast 
of a people; and it is never stifled except through 
misconception or ignorance. 

The most successful means employed at Harris- 
burffh to defeat the nomination of 3Ir. Clay was to 
praise him and decry his prospects. Some dozen 
or more individuals residing chiefly in different parts 
of the State of New-York, but embracing persons 
in other States, would write letters to one another, 
professing to give calculations based upon unerring 
statistics. The intriguers were thus severally sup- 
plied with a bundle of letters full of extravagant 
eulogiums upon Mr. Clay, and of lamentations that 
80 great and good a man, and one who had render- 
ed Euch signal services, could not be elected. These 
letters were pulled out and exhibited from time to 
time, as was best calculated to advance the end in 
view, their exhibition being generally preceded by 
the observation : " You know that Air. Such-a-one, 
'.the writer of this letter, is a devoted friend of Mr. 
' Clay ; but only read what he thinks and says of his 
' Presidential prospects." 

Attempts were also made to convey an exagger- 
ated impression of the superiority of Gen. Scott's 
strength over that of Mr. Clay in New-York — a supe- 
iority which never existed. Men who had been sent to 
the Convention, by constituents entertaining an en- 
thusiastic preference for Mr. Clay, became suddenly 
doubtful as to his strength, and commenced manufac- 
turing public opinion for the advancement of their own 
selfish ends. These manoeuverers were few in num- 
ber, but in a body like that at Harrisburgh, where a 
conciliatory and compromising spirit prevailed, they 
were enabled to exert an all-important influence. 
The intriguers soon succeeded in detaching many 
of the honest and sincere friends of 3Ir. Clay from 
his support, alarming them by their fabricated pub- 
lic opinion and appealing to their patriotism and their 
attachment to principles rather than men. 

Hardly a doubt seemed to be entertained, on the 
first meeting of the Convention, that Mr. Clay would 
be nominated. There were not two opinions ex- 
pressed on the point, that he onght to be President 
of the United States. The question was one solely 
vti probability of e\ec\\on; and this was a question 
partly of mere opinion and partly of testimony. 
Such a state of things presented a rare opportunity 
for intrigue and deception ; and a few — a very few — 
could, it is obvious, by a resort to unprincipled arts 
and strained representations, and by busy, under- 
hand intrigues, mislead the majorit}- and defeat their 
will. Unhappily for the country, such a few were 
found ; and receiving coadjutors, as they soon did, 
in some honest but duped friends of Mr. Clay, their 
influence was greatly n\igmrnted, and even those 
who had had >lip fullest faith in the strength of their 
favorite candidate began to question whether expe- 
diency would not require another choice. 

In stating these well-known facts, it is far from 
our intention to intimate that there were not some 
gentlemen in the Convention wlu) honestly believed 
that it would be injui^ious to nominaf; Mr. Clay 
at tliat time. Unquestionably there were such ; 



ant! they may now be found among the warmest 
and most single-hearted of his supporters. But we 
must, nevertheless, adhere to the conviction that the 
will of the People was not faithfully spoken by that 
Convention ; and that the defeat of Air. Clay's nomi- 
nation was brought about by a misapprehension of 
their most earnest wishes and anticipations. 

The Convention was organized on the 5th of De- 
cember by the appointirient of Hon. James Barbour 
as President, with thirteen Vice Presidents and four 
Secretaries. A Committee was appointed to report 
upon the nomination of a candidate, and, after a scs 
sion of nearly two days, during which the intriguers 
were not idle with their bundles of letters, it reported 
in favor of William Henry Harrison. The friends 
of Mr. Clay — those who had adhered to him to the 
last — disappointed as they were m this unlooked-for 
result, were too well aware of the generous senti- 
ments of tlieir candidate, not to acquiesce in it cheer- 
fully and with a good grace. At the meeting of the 
Convention, on the 9th of December, Mr. Banks of 
Kentucky was the first to rise and announce the 
hearty concurrence of the Delegation from that 
State in the nomination indicated by the informal 
ballot announced by the Committee. Mr. Preston, 
frcma the same State, followed in the same strain, 
and asked that a letter from Mr. Clay, which had 
foV several days been in possession of a Delegate, 
but which had not been shown, lest it should seem 
intended to be used to excite sympathy for Mr. Clay, 
should now be read. Permission being unanimously 
given, the letter was read by General Leslie Combs 
of Kentucky. 

In this letter Mr. Clay says : " With a just and 
' proper sense of the high honor of being voluntarily 
' called to the office of President of the United States 
' by a great, free and eJhigtitened people, and pro- 
' foundly grateful to those of my fellow-citizens who 
' are desirous to see me placed in that exalted and 
' responsible station, I must nevertheless say in en- 
' tire truth and sincerity, that if the deliberations o\ 
' the Convention shall lead them to the choice of an- 
' other as the candidate of the opposition, /or /row 
' feeling any discontent^ the nomination will have 
' my best zcishes and receive my cordial support." 
He then calls upon his friends from Kentucky, dis- 
carding all attachments or partiality for himself, and 
guided solely by the motive of rescuing our country 
from the dangers which environed it, to heartily unite 
in the selection of that citizen, j^though it should not 
be Henry Clay, who might appear the most likely by 
his election to bring about a salutary change in the 
Administration. 

The reading of this letter excited great emotion in 
the Convention. It was the saying of a patriot of 
antiquity, that he would rather have It asked by pos- 
terity whv a monument was not erected to him than 
why it was. A similar spirit would seem to actuate 
Mr. Clay ; for never has he been known to manifest 
any personal disappointment at the failure or betrayal 
of his Presidential prospects. 

Gov. Barbour, of Virginia, after expressing his 
concurrence in the will of the Convention, said he 
had known Mr. Clay for thirty years, and had been 
intimately associated with him in public and private 
life, and that a n)ore devoted Patriot or purer States- 
man never breathed. In the course of that thirty 
vcars he had never heard him utter one sentiment 



Nomination of Mr. Tyler to the Vice -Presidency — Mr. Clay again in Congress. 



jinworthy this character. There was no place in his 
heart for one petty or selfish emotion. 

Benjamin VVatkins Leigh anticipated the concur- 
rence of Vii-ginia in the nomination. He had felt it 
his duty to support his more intimate and endeared 
friend, Henry Clay, blithe acknowledged the worth 
of Gen. Harrison. He had supported the former to 
the last from the liniiest conviction that no other man 
was so fitted to the crisis — so transcendnntly quali- 
fied for the highest office in the gift of the American 
I)i?ople as Henry Clay. He never thought tliat Mr. 
Clay needed the ollice, but that the country needed 
him. That office could c6nfer no dignity or honor 
CKi Henry Clay. The measure of his liane was full- 
and whenever the tomb should close over him it would 
cover the loftiest intellect and the noblest heart that 
this age had produced or known. 

The venerable Peter R. Livingston, of New-York, 
an able and ardent supporter of Mr. Clay, said in 
regard to him — " I envy Kentucky, for when he dies, 
she will have his ashes ! " 

A candidate for the Vice-Presidency remained to 
be nominated by the Convention. He was found in 
the person of John Tyler, of Virginia. By what un- 
fortunate chance this selection was made, it is unne- 
cessary now to inquire. It must be said in exculpa- 
tion of those, however, who acquiesced in it, that 
there was no good reason for doubting Mr. T\ ler's 
political fidelity and attachment to Whig principles. 
On all the great questions of public policy he was 
considered as pledged to the support of those meas- 
ures for which the Whig party had been battling du- 
ring the last ten years. On the subject of the Public 
Lands he had, as a Member of the Virginia Legisla- 
ture, in 1839, declared himself, both imn Report and 
a Speech, an advocate of the measure of Distribu- 
tion. In a speech before the U. S. Senate, he had 
condemned, in unequivocal terms, the abuse of the 
Veto power. He went to Harrisburg, as he himself 
lias sai3, in favor of Henry Clay — lie voted for him 
in his ou'ii Delegation up to the seventh and last 
ballot — and, if his own words are to be believed, he 
was affected even to tears, when the nomination was 
given by the Convention to another. Surely it can- 
not be said that he might have been in favor of Mr. 
Clay's nomination to the Presidency, and yet oppo- 
sed to the most important public measures to which 
that distinguished Statesmen had ever rendered his 
support. 

On the question of a Bank, it was, with reason 
believed that Mr. Tyler's views were similar to those 
maintained by the great Whig Party of the country. 
Whilst a member of the Convention at Harrisburg, 
he had made to Governor Owen, of North Carolina, 
Chairman of the Committee, through whom all no- 
minations must find their way to the Convention, 
the following communication :* 

" That his views on the Bank Question had un- 
dergone an entire change ; that he believed the es- 
tablishment of a National Bank to be alike indispen- 
sable as a Fiscal Agent of the Government, and to 
the restoration of the Currency and Exchanges of 
the country ; and he thought that all Constitutional 
objections oiisht to yield to the various Executive. 
Legislative and Judicial decisions of tiie question." 

In addition to all these circumstances, the simple 



* See the Address of the Delegates from Maryland, in the 
Harrisburg Convention, to their constituents. These facts will 
be fcund eloquently set forth in that able paper. 



fact of Mr. Tyler's presence in the Convention— of 
his silent approval of all those important measures 
which were regarded as consequent upon the elec- 
tion of a Whig President — was, in the minds of hon- 
orable men, equivalent to a pledge that those meas- 
ures would, in any event, continue to ineet his ready 
and earnest support. 

Under the influence of considerations like these, 
the Convention unanimously nominated John Tyler, 
of Virginia, for the Vice Presidency ; and, having 
taken this step, adjourned. , 

A deep disappointment was felt throughout, tlie 
.Whig ranks at the failure of die Convention to no- 
minate Mr. Clay for the Presidency ;' but the mag- 
nanimous sentiments expressed in his letter, read at 
the Convention, soon began to animate his friends; 
and they manifested their devotion to principles ra- 
ther tlian to men, by rallying vigorously in support 
of the selected candidates. 

With regard to John Tyler, he was very imper- 
fectly known out of Virginia ; and if little could be 
said in his favor, still less could be said to hia preju- 
dice. The office of Vice President was generally 
regarded as one of comparatively slight conse- 
quence ; and there seemed to be an utter absence of 
all apprehension of the contingency, by which its 
importance was so fearfully magnified. Future 
Conventions will never forget the lesson which Mr. 
Tyler has given to his countrymen and their pos- 
terity. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Mr. flay again in Congress — Passage with Mr. Calhoun— Recon- 
ciliatory Incident— The Bankrupt Bill.&c— The Sub-Treasury 
again— A Government Bank— Mr. Clay visits his native County 
of Hanover — His Speech — Proposed Reforms — He addresses the 
Harrison Convention at Nashville — Democracy— Born a Demo- 
crat—Reminiscence of a Revolutionary Incident. 

Mr. Clay's efforts in the Democratic Whig cause 
appear not to have been less ardent, incessant and 
faithful, during the Congressional Session of 1839- 
40, than at any previous period of his career. The 
just expectations of his friends had been thwarted at 
Harrisburg; but that circumstance did not seem 
either to affect his spirits, or to damp the ardor of 
his opposition to that policy which he believed inju- 
rious to the best interests of his country. He acqui- 
esced promptly, heartily and nobly in the nomina- 
tion of General Harrison, and did not manifest, on 
any occasion, a lurking feeling of disappointment. 
He took an early occasion in the Senate to reiterate 
the sentiments expressed in his letter, read at the 
Convention; and he showed himself prepared to do 
vigorous battle in behalf of the principles which he 
and his associates had been struggling, for the last 
twelve years, to maintain. 

In the Senate, on the third of January, 1840, Mr. 
Southard moved the reconsideration of an order of 
reference of Mr. Calhoun's Land Bill to the Com- 
mittee on Public Lands. The proposition gave rise 
to a passage between Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Clay, in 
which severe language was employed on both sides. 
Allusion being made to their respective political ca'- 
reers at the time of the Force Bill and the Compro- 
mise Act, Mr. Calhoun said that the gentleman from 
Kentucky was flat on his back at that time, and was 
compelled to the Compromise — and that he (Mr. 
Calhoun) was then his master. 



Life of Henry Clay, 



In reply, !\!r. Clay, in the uidor of liis feeling?, 
remarked: — "The f;eiuleiiian has said that I was 
'flat on my hack — that liJ was my master on that 
'occasion. lie my master.' Sir, I would not own 
' him for my slave ! "* 

The principal questions on which he spoke during 
this session were — on the Abolition of Slavery; on 
the BankrujJt Bill; the Maine Boundary Line; Mr. 
Callioun's Bill to cede the Public Laiids to the 
States in which they lie; the Navy Appropriation 
Bill ; tho Independent Treasury Bill; on the Branch 
Mints; the Expenditures of Government; the Cum- 
berland Head; Repeal of the Salt Tax; and the 
Bankrupt Bill. His opinions on nearly all these 
subjects fiie so well known as to render a recapitu- 
lation unnecessary. 

Notwithstanding the indications of public hostility, 
and " in spite of the lamentations" in Congress " and 
elsewhere," Mr. Van Burcn and his friends contin- 
ued to press their odious Sub-Treasury project, now 
newly christened under the name of the " independ- 
ent Treasury Bill." Against this measure Mr. Clay 
battled with undiminished vigor and zeal. On the 
twentieth of January, 1840, he addressed the Senate 
in one of his most spirited speeches, in opposition to 
the bill, which he truly designated as a Government 
Bank in disguise, demonstrating the assertion by 
proofs the most convincing. 

" A Government Bank," said Mr. Clay, " may not 
' suddenly burst upon us, but there it is, embodied 
' in this bill. Let the reelection of the present Chief 
' Magistrate be secured, and you will soon see the 
' Bank disclosing its genuine character. But, thanks 
' be to God .' there is a day of reckoning at hand. — 
' All the signs of the times clearly indicate its ap- 
'proach. And on the fourth day of March, in the 
' year of our Lord 1841,1 trust that the long account 
' of the abuses and corruptions of this Admini?tra- 
'tion, in which this measure will be a conspicuous 
' item, will be finally and for ever adjusted." 

He introduced, on this occasion, a bill for the Re- 
peal of the Sub-Treasury System, but it was not 
acted upon until the will of the People was so per- 
emptorily spoken that longer resistance to it, on the 
part of Mr. Van Buren and his friends, was impos- 
sible. 

During the summer of 1840, Mr. Clay visited his 
native County of Hanover, and was every where 
hailed with enthusiasm and reverence. At a public 
dinner given to him at Taylorsville, June 27th, 1840, 
he addressed a vast assemblage of his friends in a 
speech, which may be referred to as a text book of 
his political faith. It is probably in the hands of too 
many of our readers to render an abstract of it use- 
ful in this place. Although his opinions on all pub- 
lic questions of importance have been always frankly 



* Mr. Clay is not the man to harbor the harsh feehngs some- 
times engendered in animated dehate. After his farewell speech, 
on rcsigiiins his seat in the Senate, os he was about to leave the 
Chamber, ho encountered Mr. Calhoun. They had not spoken 
to eaeh other for five years; but they now simultaneously ex- 
tended tlieir hands, and cordially greeted each otiier, while tlie 
tears sprang to their eyes. They had ahuost spent their lives to- 
petlier in Congress; and during the War, and at various times 
subsequently had stood shoulder to shoulder, animated by the 
same patriotic impulses and aspirations. Time had passed over 
both, and the young men had become old. For a minute or 
more, they could not speak, so overcome were both with emo- 
tion. At length Mr. Cay said, on parting, "Give my best re- 
gards to Mrs. Calhoun ;" and they bade each other farewell. 



avowed, he defines his position in this speech witn 
unusual minuteness and precision. Vv'^ith a view to 
the fundamental character of the Government itself, 
and especially of the Executive branch, he main- 
tains, that there should be — either by Kincndments 
of ihe Constitution, when they were necessary, or 
by remedial legislation, when the object fell withia 
the scope of the powers of Congress — 

] St. A provision to render a person ineligible to the 
ofiice of President of the United States utter a ser- 
vice of one term. 

2d. That the Veto power should be more precisely 
defined, and be subjected to further limitations and 
qualificalions. 

3d. That the power of dismission from office should 
be restricted, and the exercise of it rendered respon- 
sible. 

4th. That the control over the Treasury of the 
United States should be confided and confined ex- 
clusively to Congress ; and nil authority of the Pres- 
ident over it, by means of dismissing the Secretary 
of the Treasury, or other persons having the imme- 
diate charge ot it, be rigorously precluded. 

5th. That the appointment of Members of Con- 
gress to any office, or any but a few specific offices, 
during their continuance in office, and for one year 
thereafter, be prohibited. 

Mr. Clay was among the most active of thoso^ who 
took part in the campaign of 1840, which terminated 
in the complete triumph of the Whigs. On the 17th 
of August, 1840, he addressed the Harrison Conven- 
tion at Nashville, Tennessee, in an interesting and 
eloquent speech. In allusion to the professions of 
the Van Buren party to be Democrats /(sr excellence, 
he very happily said — " Of all their usurpations, I 
know of none more absurd than the usurpation of 
this name." 

" I WAS BORN A Democrat," said he, subsequent- 
ly in a speech delivered in Indiana — "rocked in 
the cradle of the Revolution — and at the darkest 
period of that ever memorable struggle for Free- 
dom. I recollect, in 1781 or '82, a visit made by 
Tarleton's troops to the house of my mothe'r, and 
of their running their stcords into ihe new-made 
graves of my father and grand-father, thinking they 
contained hidden treasures. Though then not more 
than four or five years of age, the circumstance of 
that visit is vividly remembered, and it will be to 
the last moment of my life. I was born a Demo- 
crat — was raised and nurtured a Republican — and 
shall die a Republican, in tlie faith and principles 
of my fathers." 

CHAPTER XIX 

Election of General Harrison— He visits Mr. Clr.y— Second Ses- 
sion of the Twenty-Sixth Congress— Inauguration and death 
of General Harrison— The Extra Session— Mr. Clay's Labors— 
.Tohn Tyler's Veto of the Bank Bill— Mr. Clay's eloquent 
Speech in Reply to Mr. Rives— The Van Hurcn men in Con- 
gress caU to congratulate John Tyler on his \ eto— Mr. Clay's 
fanciful description of the Scene— Events succeeding the 
Veto— More Vetoes— The Tariff"- Mr. Clay resigns his seat in 
the Senate— Impressive Farewell. 

The election of General Harrison to the Presi- 
dency in the autumn of 1840, by nn immense ma- 
jority, was hailed by the Whigs as the triumphant 
consummation of their long and arduous twelve 
years' struggle against the di.=organi'/,ing principles 
and measures which had prevailed during the ascen- 
dency of Jackson and Van Buren. A majority of 
the People had at length passed their solemn ver- 
dict againfe*. wiose measures, and in favor of the legis- 



Death of President Harrison — Mr, Tyler's Vetoes — A Scene Described. 



73 



lation for which Mr. Clay nnd the Whigs in Con- 
gress had been so unaniniouslr contendin;;. Be- 
fore commcncinj^ his journey to the Seat of Govern- 
ment, General Harrison visitod Mr. Clay, and per- 
eonally tendered him any ofiice in the I'rcsidcru's 
gift. Mr. Cluy respectfully declined all invitations 
of this kind, and announced his intention of retiring 
from the Senate as soon as the objects for which he 
and his friends had been laboring so strenuously, 
were placed in a train of accomplishment. 

The Session of Congress preceding the new Presi- 
dent's installation found ftlr. Clay at liia post, still 
prompt ai)(I active in tlie service of Fiis country. On 
the Land Bdl — the Repeal of the Sub-Treasury — the 
Bill to establish a Uniform System of Bankruptcy — 
the Treasury Note Bill — the Preemption and Dis- 
tribution project — and other important questions, on 
which his views are familiar to our readers, he ad- 
dressed the Senate with his accustomed eloquence 
and energy. In his Speech of the 23th of January, 
1841, on the Land Bill, he entered into an able vin- 
dication of Whig principles and measures as con- 
trasted with those of the expiring Administration. 
There being still a Van Burcn majority, Mr. Clay's 
Resolutions, repealing the Sub-Treasury, after 
affording occasion for some eloquent debates, were 
laid on the table the 19th of February. Some 
remarks being made in the Senate by Mr. Cuthbert, 
toward tlie close of the Session, of a character 
prejudicial to Mr. Webster, Mr. Clay eloquently 
vindicated that distinguished Senator, and bore tes- 
timony to his exalted merits. 

The Second Session of the Twenty-Sixth Con- 
gress terminated on the night of the 3d of March — 
the Van Burcn men having refused to pass a Bank- 
rupt Bill and oth^r important measures. The day 
after the adjournment, General Harrison was inaugu- 
rated President of the United States ; and, on the loth 
of March, he issued his Proclamation for an Extra 
Session of Congress, to commence on the last Jlon- 
day in May. Before that period arrived, and pre- 
cisely a month at'ter his inauguration, the venerable 
President departed this life ; and, by a provision of 
the Constitution, John Tyler of Virginia, the Vice 
President, was invested with the authority of Presi- 
dent of the United States. 

The Extraordinary Session of Congress, convened 
by the Proclamation of the lamented Harrison, took 
place at the appointed time, the last Monday in May, 
1841. Never was there a body of Representatives 
who came together with a more patriotic and honor- 
able desire faithfully to execute the will of their con- 
Btituents, the majority of the People of the United 
States, than the Whigs, who composed the Twenty- 
Seventh Congress. Mr. Clay at once took active 
and decided measures for the prompt dispatch of 
the public business. The subjects which he pro- 
posed to the Senate, as proper exclusively to engage 
their deliberations during the Extra Session, were : 

1st. The repeal of the Sub-Treasury Law. 

2d. The incorporation of a Bank adapted to the 
wants of the People and the Government. 

3d. The provision of an adequate Revenue by the 
imposition of Duties, and including an authority to 
contract a temporary Loan to cover the Public Debt 
treated by the last Administration. 

4th. The prospective Distribution of the proceeds 
of the Public Lands. 

5tb. The passage ofnecesaary Appropriation Bills. 



6th. S3me modification iii the Banking System of 
the District of Columbia for the benefit of the Peo- 
ple of the Di.stfict. 

In the formation of Commirtces, Mr. Clay was 
placed ut the head of that on Finance ; and, on his 
motion, a Select Committee on the Currency for the 
considorution of the Bank question was appointed. 
Of this Committee he was made Chairman. Early 
in June he presented hia admirable Report of a Plan 
li)r a National Bank ; and, after a thorougli di.scus- 
sion, the bill was passed, which, on the I6th of 
August, called forth a Veto from President Tyler. 
On the 19ih of the same month, Mr. Clay addressed 
the Senate on the subject of this Veio. His remarks, 
although apparently made " more in sorrow than in 
anger," are pervaded by the spirit of unanswerablo 
truth ; and, in his rejoinder to Mr. Rives, on tlie 
same day, he rises to a bight of eloquence never 
surpass'^d on the floor of Congress. In the opinion 
of many of his hearers, it was one of the most bril- 
liant Speeches of his whole Senatorial career. On 
this occasion he showed, by irresistible proofs, that 
the question of a Bank was the great issue made 
before the People at the late Election. " Wherever 
' I was," said he — " in the great Valley of the 
' Mississppi — in Kentucky — in Tennessee — in Mary- 
' land — in all the circles in which I ftioved, every 
' where. Ban/; or No Bank was the great, the lead- 
' ing, the vital question." 

Not long after the Veto, as Mr. Clay, with two or 
three friends, was passing the Treasury Buildings, 
along the road leading to the Pennsylvania Avenue, 
he noticed a procession of gentlemen walking two 
by two, toward the White House. " In the name 
of wonder, what have we here ? " exclaimed Mr. 
Clay, while his features lighted up with one of tliose 
mischievous smiles, which are so contagious, seen 
on his countenance. It was a procession of the 
Van Buren Members of Congress, going person- 
ally to congratulate John Tyler on his Veto ! 

The incident was not forgotten by Mr. Clay. The 
scene was too rich and piquant to pass imnoticed. 
On the 2d of September, a suitable opportunity pre- 
sented itself in the Senate for a commentary on the 
occurrence; and he availed himself of it in a man 
ner, which entirely overcame the gravity of all par- 
ties present. He gave an imaginary description of 
the scene at the White House, and the congratu- 
lations lavished upon the President by his new 
friends. He pictured to the Senate the honorable 
member from Pennsylvania (Mr. Buchanan) ap- 
proaching the Throne, and contributing his words 
of encouragement and praise to those, which had 
been niTered by the rest. The imaginary speech, 
which he put into the lips of this gentleman on this 
occasion, was so characteristic, that Mr. Buchanan 
sub.sequently complained in the Senate, that it had 
been gravely attributed to him by several journals 
as having been actually delivered, and that he could 
not divest many of his worthy constituents in Penn- 
sylvania of the idea. 

The figure of Mr. Benton was one of too much 
importance not to be introduced by Mr Clay into 
this fancy sketch. 

" £ can tell the gentleman from Kentucky, that I 
was not at the White House on the occasion to 
which he alludes/' said the xMissouri Senator inter- 
rupting him. 



74 



Life of Henry Clay. 



" Then I will suppose what tlie gentleman would 
have said if he had been presnnt," continued Mr. 
Clay, without suffering his imai;ination tn be check- 
ed in its flight. And he then rppresented the wordy 
and pompous Mis.souriau bowing at the Executive 
footstool, and tendering his congratulations. 

The space to which we have been restricted, will 
not allow us to present even an imperfect sketch of 
the whole scene. We can only refer the reader to 
it as one of the most felicitous of those legitimate 
presentations of the ludicrous, made to illustrate 
the true, which sometimes occur to enliven the bar- 
renness of legislative debate. 

The events which succeeded the Veto are too re- 
cent in the minds of the People to render a minute 
enumeration necessary here. They are forcibly 
summed up in Mr. Adams's excellent Report on the 
President's Veto of the Fvevenue Bill. A second 
Bank Bill, shaped to meet the avowed views of the 
President, was prepared, passed, and then vetoed. 
The Cabinet, with the exception of Mr. Webster, 
resigned ; and the great purpose for which the Spe- 
cial Session of Congress had been called was defeat- 
ed by the will of one man, who owed his influential 
position to his professed attachment to Whig princi- 
ples, and his declared preference for Mr. Clay as a 
candidate for the Presidency. 

Mr. Clay was unremittted in his application to the 
public business during the Extra Session. He spoke 
on a great variety of questions, and, being at the 
head of two important Committees, performed a great 
amount of hard work. Although his principal mea- 
sure for the public relief was defeated by the unlook- 
ed-for defection of John Tyler, he had the satisfac- 
tion of aiding in the Repeal of the odious Sub-Trea- 
sury System — in the passage of tlie Bankrupt Law 
— and in the final triumph of his favorite measure, 
often baffled but still persevered in, the Distribution 
of the Sales of the Public Lands. By the provisions 
of this last law, Distribution was to cease whenever 
the average rate of Duties on Imports should exceed 
20 per cent. 

A Revision of the Tarifl', rendered necessary by 
the expiration of the Compromise Act, was also un- 
dertaken. This was the most important subject 
which engaged the attention of the Twenty-Seventh 
Congress, at its first regular session. To meet the 
exigency of the occasion, a Provisional Bill, sus- 
pending the operation of the Distribution Bill for one 
month, as well in consequence of a lack of funds in 
the Treasury, as of a desire on the part of Congress 
to give more mature consideration to the subject of 
a Tarifl", was passed. But it encountered still ano- 
ither and another Veto from the President. 

It has been asserted that Mr. Clay and his friends 
did not desire an adjustment of the Tariff' question, 
during the Session of 1841-2. Nothing could be 
more unfounded than this charge. In spite of dis- 
■ comfiturc and mortification, they persevered in their 
efforts for the relief of the country, and eventually 
Burrendered the Distribution clause to meet the views 
of the Pre^Went; and the Tariff' Bill finally became 
a law, through the patriotic endeavors of the friends 
of Mr. Clay, notwithstanding the attempt of Mr. Ty- 
ler to crush their energies and arouse their opposi- 
tion. 

On the thirty-first of March, 1842, after one of the 
longest Congressional careers known in our annals, 



Mr. Clay resigned his seat in the Senate of the Uni 
ted States. It having been previously understood 
tliat he would take occasion, in presenting the (Cre- 
dentials of his successor, Mr. Crittenden, to make 
some valedictory remarks, the Senate Chamber was, 
at an early hour, crowded to its utmost capacity, by- 
Members of the other House, and by a large assem- 
blage of citizens and ladies. Some of Mr. Clay's 
best friends had looked forward with apprehension 
to this event— wearing the aspect, as it did, of a for- 
mal and appointed leave-taking. They remembered 
that there was but one step from the sublime to the 
ridiculous, and they dreaded lest the truly impress- 
ive cbaiacter of the occasion might be marred, or di- 
vested of its dignity, by any farewell words. But 
Mr. Clay had hardly risen to speak before their ap- 
prehensions were lost and forgotten in a deep and 
absorbing interest in the language that flowed calm- 
ly, smoothly and majestically from his lips. He re- 
ferred to the period of his first entrance into the Sen- 
ate, in 180G. He paid a merited compliment to tlie 
high character of that body, and to the ability of its 
individual Members; but added that, full of attrac- 
tion as was a seat in that Chamber, to fill the aspi- 
rations of the most ambitious heart, he had long de- 
termined to forego it, and to seek repose among tlie 
calm pleasures of " home." 

It had been his purpose, he said, to terminate his 
connection with the Senate in November, 1840. Had 
President Harrison lived, and the measures devised 
at the Extra Session been fully carried out, lie 
would have then resigned his seat. But the hope 
that at the Regular Session the measures left un- 
done might be still perfected, induced him to post- 
pone his determination ; and events, which arose af- 
ter the Extra Session, resulting from the failure of 
those measures which had been proposed at that 
Session, and which appeared to throw on his politi- 
cal friends a temporary show of defeat, confirmed 
him in the resolution to attend the present Session 
also — and, whether in prosperity or adversity, to 
share the fortune of his friends. But he resolved, at 
the same time, to retire as soon as he could do so 
with propriety and decency. Mr. Clay then con- 
tinued as follows : 

" From 1806, the period of ray entry on this noble 
theatre, with short intervals, to the present time, 1 
have been engaged in the public councils, at home 
and abroad. Of the nature or the value of the ser- 
vices rendered during that long and arduous period 
of my life, it does not become me to speak ; history, 
if she deigns to notice me, or posterity, if the recol- 
lections of my humble actions shall be transmitted 
to posterity, are the best, the truest, the most im- 
partial judges. When death has closed the scene, 
their sentence will be pronounced, and to that I ap- 
peal and refer myself. My acts and public conduct 
are a fair subject for the criticism and judgment of 
my follow-men ; but the private motives by which 
lliey have been promjited — they are known only to 
the great Searcher of the human heart and to my- 
self; and I trust I may be pardoned for repeating a 
declaration made some thirteen years ago, that, 
whatever errors — and doubtless they have been 
many — may be discovered in a review of my public 
service to the country, I can with unshaken confi- 
dence appeal to the Divine Arbiter for the truth of 
the declaration, that I have been influenced by 
no impure purposes, no personal motive — have 
souglit no personal aggrandisement; but that in all 
my public acts I have had a sole and single eye, 
and a warm and devoted heart, directed and dedica- 



Retiracy from the Senate — Return to Kentucky — Remarks on Slavery. 



75 



ted to what, in my judgment, I believed to be llie 
true interest of my country." 

Mr. Clay then alluded to the fact, that in common 
with other public men he had not enjoyed an immuni- 
ty from censure and detraction. But he had not been 
unsustained. And here the allusion to the persecu- 
tions of his assailants led to the mention of Ken- 
tucky, the State of his adoption — noble Kentucky — 
who, when the storm of calumny ra^cd the fiercest, 
and he seemed to be forsaken by all the rest of the 
world, threw her broad and impenetrable shield 
around him, and bearing him up aloft in her coura- 
geous arms repelled the poisoned sluifts aimed for 
his destruction. As Mr. Clay uttered the name of 
Kentucky, his feelings overpowered him — the strong 
man was bowed with emotion — he passed his fin- 
gers before his eyes for a moment — then rallied, and 
proceeded with his remarks. To the charge of 
Dictatorship, which was so often in the mouths of 
his opponents at that time, Mr. Clay replied tem- 
perately and happily. We can quote but a fragment 
of this portion of his Valedictory Address : 

"That my nature is warm, my temper ardent, my 
disposition, especially in relation to the public ser- 
vice, enthusiastic, I am fully ready to own; and 
those who supposed that I have been assuming the 
Dictatorship, have only mistaken for arrogance or 
assumption that fervent ardor and devotion wliich 
13 natural to my constitution, and which I may have 
displayed with no little regard to cold, calculating 
and cautfbus prudence, in sustaining and zealous- 
ly supporting important National measures of policy 
whicli I have presented and proposed." 

The truly generous qualities of Mr. Clay's na- 
ture shine forth from every line of the following pas- 
sage : 

" During a long and arduous career of service in 
the public councils of my country, especially' dur- 
ing the last eleven years I have held a seat m the 
Senate, from the same ardor and enthusiasm of 
character, I have no doubt, in tlie heat of debate, 
and in an honest endeavor to maintain my opinions 
against adverse opinions equally honestly enter- 
tained, as to the best course to be adopted for the 
public welfare, I may have often inadvertently or 
unintentionally, in moments of excited debate, made 
use of language that has been ofiensive, and sus- 
ceptible of injurious interprftation toward my brother 
Senators. If there be any here who retain wound- 
ed feelings of injury or dissatisfaction produced on 
such occasi""i^. I beg to assure them that I now of- 
fer the "•''•■ .;s', apology for any departure on my part 
f'"' ..J established rules of parliamentary deco- 
., and courtesy. On the other hand, I assure the 
aenators, one and all, without exception and with- 
out reserve, that I retire from this Senate Chamber 
without carrying with me a single feeling of resent- 
ment or dissatisfaction towards the Senate or any of 
its members." 

Mr. Clay concluded this memorable address by 
invoking, in a tone which thrilled through every 
heart, the blessings of Heaven upon the whole Sen- 
ate and every member of it. The hushed suspense 
of intense feeling and attention pervaded the crowd- 
ed assemblage as he sat down. For nearly half a 
minute after he had finished no one spoke — no one 
moved. There was not a dry eye in the Senate 
Chamber. RIen of all parties seemed equally over- 
come by the pathos and majesty of that farewell. — 
At length Mr. Preston, of South Carolina, rose and 
remarked, that what had just taken place was an 
epoch in their legislative history ; and, from the feel- 
iag which was evinced, he plainly saw tliat there 



was little disposition to attend to business. He 
would tiiereforc move that the Senate adjourn. 

'I'ho motion was ui\animously agreed to; but 
even then the whole audience seemed to remain 
spell-bound by the effect of those jiarting toncH of 
Rlr. Clay. For several scironds no one stirred. " In 
all probability wc should have remained there to 
this hour," said an honorable Senator to us recent- 
ly, in describing the scene, " had not Mr. Clay him- 
self risen, and moved towards the area." And then 
at length, slowly and reluctantly, the assemblage 
dispersed. 

Shortly after the adjournment, as Mr. Calhoun 
was crossing the Senate Chamber, ho and Mr. Clay 
encountered. For five years they had been estraii- 
ged ; and the only words which had passed between 
them had been those harshly spoken in debate. But 
now, as they thus inadvertently met, the old times 
came over them. They reinembered only their po- 
litical companionship of twenty years' standing. — 
The intervening differences, which had chilled their 
hearts towards each other, were forgotten. The tears 
sprang to their eyes. They shook each other cor- 
dially by the hand — interchanged a "God bless 
you!" and parted. We have alluded elsewhere 
brielly to this scene. It was a happy sequel to the 
leading events of the day. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Eeturii to Kentucky— Speech at Lexington— Visits Indiana— 
Si^ne with Mr. Mendenliall— Remarks on fluvery— Person- 
al Matters— Slanders Refuted — The Uaytoii Convention- 
Visit to tlie South-VVest— Triumplial Progress— Return Home 
— (Contemplated Visit to the South-East— Letters on the 
Taritt— Letter to the Whigs of Fayette County, Vn., in re- 
gard to John Tyler— Again Visits New-Orleans— Addresses 
Uie Whig Convention— Leaves New-Orleans on liis way to 
North-Carolina. 

On his return to Kentucky, after retiring from 
public life, Mr. Clay was received with all those 
manifestations of enthusiastic affection which it ia 
possible for a grateful constituency to exhibit. On 
the 9th of June, 1342, he partook of a public enter- 
tainment or Barbecue, given in his honor near Lex- 
ington. 

The speech which he delivered on this occasion 
is probably fresh in the recollection of many of our 
readers. Containing as it does many personal re- 
miniscences of his past career, and a review of those 
leading questions of policy upon which we have al- 
ready given his opinions, it is one of the most inter- 
esting of his numerous addresses to popular assem- 
blies. 

Early in October, 1842, being on a visit to Rich- 
mond, in the State of Indiana, the occasion of 
his meeting a large concourse of his fellow citizens 
was seized upon by a number of his political oppo- 
nents to present him with a petition praying him to 
emancipate his slaves in Kentucky. It was thought 
that even Henry Clay would be nonplussed and 
embarrassed by so inopportune and unexpected an 
appeal. A Mr. Mendenhall was selected to present 
him with the petition, and expectation was raised to 
the highest pitch among the few who were in the se- 
cret, and who were far from being Blr. Clay's well- 
wishers, to hear what he would say. Never did he 
acquit himself more felicitously than on this occa- 
sion. 



76 



Life of Henry Clay. 



The indignation was great ainono; the assembly 
when they learned the olject with whicli Mr. Meu- 
denhall had made Jiis way through their midst to 
tho spot where Jlr. Clay stood. 1'hey regarded it 
as an infult to him and his iiiends; and tJie proba- 
bility is, that Mr. rylcnilenhall would have !iad some 
palpable proof of ilicir sense of his impertinence, 
}iad not Mr. Clay instantly appealed to ihe assem- 
bly in tho following terms : 

" I liope that Mr. Mendenhall may be treated with 
ihe greatest forbearance and respect. 1 assure my 
fellow citizens, here collected, tiiat the presentation 
of the petition has not occasioned the slightest pain, 
nor excited one soliiary disagreeable emotion. If 
it were to be presented to me, I prefer that it 
should be done in the face of this vast assemblage. 
1 think I can give it such an answer as becomes me 
and the subject of which it treats. At all events, I 
entreat and beseech my fellow citizens for their 
sake, for my sake, to offer no disrespect, no indig- 
nity, no Violence, in word or deed, to Mr.Menuenhall." 

Then, turning to 3Ir. Mendenhall : " Allow me to 
' say," said Mr. C, " that I think you have not con- 

• formed to the independent character of an Ameri- 

* can citizen in presenting a petition to me. A 
' petition, as the term implies, generally proceeds 
' from an inferior in power or station to a superior; 
' but between us there is entire equality." 

Mr. Clay remarked, in continuation, that he de- 
sired no concealment of his opinions in regard to 
the institution of Slavery. He looked upon it as a 
great evil, and deeply lamented that we had derived 
it from the Parental Government and from our ances- 
tors. But, without any knowledge of tne relation in 
which he stood to his Slaves, or their individual con- 
dition, Mr. Mendenhall and his associates had pre- 
f-ented a petition calling upon him forthwith to 
liberate the whole of them. 

" Now let me tell you," said Mr. C. " that some half 
a dozen of them, from age, decrepitude or infirmity, 
are wholly unable to gain a livelihood for them- 
selves, and are a heavy charge upon me. Do you 
think that I should conform to the dictates of hu- 
manity by ridding myself of that charge, and send- 
ing them forth into the world, with the boon of 
liberty, to end a wretched existence in starvation ''" 
In conclusion, Mr. Clay admirably exposed the 
liypocrasy of the jjetitioners by the following pro- 
position, in regard to which they have never taken 
any eteps : 

" I shall, Mr. Mendenhall, take your petition into 
respectful and deliberate consideration ; but before 



As the period for a new Presidential election ap- 
proaches, the enemies of Mr. Clay are circulating 
the gro>-6est misrepresentations in regard to his con- 
duct as a slave-holder and his opinions upon the 
subject of the iiistitiuion of Slavery. A Mr. James 
Channing Fuller, who according to his own showing, 
smuggled himself into the kitchen at Ashland and 
interrogated the slaves, in the absence of Mr. Clay 
fVom home, has published a statement in relation to 
Mr. Clay's domestic afiairs, full of the most ridicu- 
lous falsehoods. One of the slaves, named Darkey, 
who seems to have been very communicative in 
" humbugging" the fellow, on being asked why she 
had told him such big stories, replied : " Why, the 
man came sneaking about the house like a fool, and 
I thought I would make a bigger fool of him." 

A Mr. Abel Brown, who was indicted not long 
since for libel by the Grand Jury of Albany, haa 
also been busy in propagating the vilest slanders in 
regard to Mr. Clay's connection with the slave- 
holding interest. We need only stamp them as de- 
liberate and malicious falsehoods, wholly unsustain 
ed by the slightest shadow of proof. 
The Lexington Intelligencer says : 
" Mr. Clay owns about fifty slaves. Several of 
them, from age and infirmity, are an absolute charge 
upon him. His allowance of food to them, is a 
pound of bacon per day for adult men, and in that 
proportion for women and children — free access to 
the meal-tub for bread, and plenty of vegetables. 
Moht of thenj raise fowls. They are well clothed 
and housed, and the tasks given them are very light, 
insomuch, tjiat during the season of breaking hemp, 
some of the men can earn their dollar per day. 
Their attachment to Mr. Clay is strong. Charles 
has travelled wjih him through the greater part of 
the United States and both the Canadas. When at 
the Falls of Niagara, three years ago, Mr. Clay was 
asked by a friend if he was sure ot Charles's fidelity ; 
for that some Abolitionists had been attempting to 
seduce him from his service. Jlr. Clay replied that 
they were welcome to get him oft' if they could. He 
might go if he pleased ; he would be only anticipating 
his freedom a few days. In Canada, Charles was 
again importuned and teased, until excessively 
vexed, he turned upon his tormentors and told them 
that he would not leave his master for both of the 
Queen's Provinces. Charles's wife, a free Woman 
and her childien, all live upon Mr. Clay's place and 
are chiefly supported by him, without rendering any 
equivalent." 

There has never been any concealment on Mr. 
Clay's part of his opinions on the subject of Slavery. 
Through the whole course of this Memoir they will 



i come to a final decision, I shou/d Hie to know j be found scattered, from the period when he first 
wltal you and your associates are a-ilUug to do for < advocated the gradual eradication of Slavery from 
ilic Staves in my possession, if I should think jjro- j Kentucky in 1797 to the present moment. In his 
per to liberate them. I own about fifty, vvho are ■ j^ ^^^.^^^ ^j^^ Colonization Society in 1827, (see 

probably worth filtecn thousand dollars, loturn, f r .. » , v .i ■ i 

Ibem loose upon society without any means of sub- Chapter X. of the present work,) nothmg can be 
eistenee or support would be an act of cruelty. Are | more explicit than the language he employs. We 
j'ou willing to raise and secure the jiayment of fit- t refer those who would be enlightened further in re- 
teon thousand dollars for iheir benefit, if I should j garj to his views, to that eloquent address. 
be induced to free them ? The security of the pay- j 
inent of that sum « ould malcrially lessen the ob- 
stacle in the way of their emancipation." 

Mr. Clay finished his remarks with some friendly 



advice to Mr. Mendenhall, which it is probable that 
individual will never forget. Tho tables were com- 
pletely turned upon those who hud thought to annoy 
and embarrass tlic great KentucUian. The bearer 
of the petition and his associates were suflered to 
Bhiik away unnoticed and unheeded by the crowd. 



On the 29th of September, 1812, Mr. Clay attended 
the great Whig Convention at Dayton, Ohio, where 
One Hundred Thousand W'higs are believed to 
have been assembled. 

" At 8 o'clock," says one of the actors in the 
scene, " when every street in the city was filled, 
' and there seemed no resting-place for any, the pro- 
' cession was formed. This occupied a long lime. 
' When done, Uie order, ' March! ' was given; and, 



Visit to the South.Wcat—Tke-TmiJf of \B\=:— Letters on the Tariff. 



77 



♦in solid mass, we moved to welcome tiio great 
'Statesman, Henry Clay, into iho. city. II<i was 
'met near the city, and, at lialf-paet 9 o'clock, 
•reached the neighborhood of the National Hotel. 

* Here a beautiful sight was wiincssed. One hun- 
♦dred and twenty-five children, as the honest patriot 
'approached, welcomed him with songs! Their 

sweet voices ran;; out in merry peals, and the mul- 
titude responded to it with the heartiest enthusiasm. 

* After this, Mr. Clay occupied a stand for some time, 

* as the procession passed by, welcoming him to Ohio, 
and in return receiving his salutations. 

" Wlien the procession had passed, Mr. Clay re- 
' tired into the Hotel. Governor Metcalf then ap- 

* peared at the window, and delivered a Sjiccch — 
' returning the thanks of Kentucky for the warni- 
' hearted recc})tion they had met with, and bid- 

* ding all who loved the name of American to rally 
' together in defence of American Liberty and Ameri- 
' can Labor. 

" Mr. Schenck read Resolutions, prepared by the 
' Committee, nominating Henry Clay and John 
' Davis for the Whig candidates for 1844. At this 
' time Mr. Clay was seen in the crowd, and then, as 
'if there had been one voice only, the shout went 

* forth for tlie Statesman of the Nation. He answered 
'it; and, in a Speech of two hours, plain, yet elo- 
'quent, he spoke, concealing no opinion, disguising 

* no wish, the multitude all the while listening with 
' eager attention and breathless silence. And such 



>pe! 



>ch! 



It was a master-effort of a master- 



• spirit." 

Of this tremendous meeting fllr. Clay afterward 
remarked, that of all the crowds in Europe or else- 
where he never saw one so great. A vast sea of 
liuman heads surrounded the platform, covering 
many acres. 

In the month of December, 1842, Mr. Clay, having 
private business in New-Orleans, where some of 
his near relations reside, visited that city, stop- 
ping at Natchez and other places on his route. He 
was every where received by the People with such 
enthusiastic demonstrations of popular affection as 
bad never belbre been bestowed upon any American 
except Washington. 

On his return homeward from Louisiana, about 
the middle of February, 1843, his progress was 
continually impeded by vast assemblages of the 
people to meet and welcome him. At Mobile, on 
the 2d of February, and at Vicksburg, on the 20th 
of February, an immense concourse of citizens col- 
lected to offer the tribute of their gratitude and 
respect. The Hon. S. S. Prentiss addressed him, 
on the latter occasion, in that strain of fluent and 
iiiipassioned eloquence for which tliat young and 
gifted orator is distinguished. 

At Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, 3Ir. Clay 
was met and welcomed by the largest concourse 
ever assembled in the State. At Memphis, Ten- 
nessee, crowds of citizens from the surrounding 
region assembled to tender him their affectionate 
respects, to look on and listen to the greatest living 
cliampion of their Country's honor and interests. 
Thus felicitated and welcomed on his route, Mr. 
Clay, witli more than a conqueror's trophies, re- 
turned, in fine health and spirits, to Ashland, just 
fl.s Spring was beginning to fringe with green the 
old eaks that waved around his homestead. 



Early in April ho addreesed a large body of bis 
fellow citizens in the Courl-PIouse yard at Lexing 
ton; and, in the course of his remarkj", acknow 
ledged, in appropriate language, the atteutioha 
which had been paid to him and the iionors which 
had been showered upon him by all parties during 
his late trip to the South-west. 

It having been understood that Mr. Clay would 
make a tour to the South-cast during the autumn of 
1843, imuimerable letters from Committees in all 
sections of the country were poured in upon him, 
requesting him to visit a multitude of places, both 
on his route and asirle from it. The task of rejily- 
ing to these letters must alone have been exceeding- 
ly laborious^ North Carolina was, we believe, tlio 
first to claim from him a visit. In his replv to a 
Committee of citizens of Raleigh, dated lOtli Julv, 
1813, he consents to pay a visit, some time in the 
course of the next spring to that State, which was 
" the first to declare the Independence of the Colo- 
' nies, and will be among the last to abandon the 
'support of the Union." 

Several letters from Mr. Clay on the subject of the 
Tariff appeared, during the Summer of 1843. No- 
tliing could be more explicit and undisguised than 
the expression of his views. In his reply, dated I3th 
September, 1843, to a letter from F. S. Bronson, 
Esq., of Georgia, asking his opinions in regard to 
the Protective policy of 1832, he writes : 

" The sum and substance of what I conceive to be 
the true policy of the United States, in resjiect to a 
Tariff, may be briefly stated. In conformity with 
the principle announced in the Compromise' Act, 1 
think, that whatever revenue is necessary to an eco- 
nomical and honest administration of the General 
Government, ought to be derived from duties, impo- 
sed on Foreign imports. And I believe that, in ea- 
tablishing a Tariff of those duties, such a discrimi- 
nation ought to be nude, as will incidentally afford 
reasonable protection to our national interests. 

" I think there is no danger of a high Tariff being 
ever established; that of 1828 was eminently de- 
serving that denomination. I was not in Congress 
when It passed, and did not vote for it; but wiifi its 
history and with the circumstances which srave birth 
to it, I am well acquainted. They were highly (dis- 
creditable to American legislation and I liope, for 
its honor, w ill never be again repeated. 

" After my return to Congress in 1831, mv effoits 
were directed to the modification and reduction of 
the rates of dury contained in the act of 1828. The 
act of 1832 greatly reduced and modified them; and 
the act of 1833, commonly called the Compromise 
Act, still farther reduced and modified ihcm. The 
act which passed at the Extra Session of 1>'11, 
which I supported, was confined to the fre.^ articles. 
I had resigned my scat in the Senate when the act 
of 1842 passed. Generally, the duties which it L:n- 
poses are lower than those' in tlie act of 1832. Aiid, 
without intending to express any opinion upon eve- 
ry item of this last Tiiriff. I would say that I think 
the provisions, in the rri.iia, are wise and jiroper. If 
there be any excesses or defects in it, (of which I 
have not the means here of judging,) they ought to 
be corrected. 

" My opinion, that there is no dan.<>:er hereafter of 
a high Tariff, is founded on the gratifying fact that 
our manufactures have, now taken a dee]) root. In 
their infancy, they needed a jrreate.- measure of pro- 
tection ; but, as they grow "and advance, tiiey ac- 
quire strength and stubiiity, and, consequently, will 
require less protection. Even now, some branches 
of them are able to maintain, in distant markets, 
successful competition with rival foreign manufao- 
tures." 



78 



Life of Henry Clay. 



By this it will be seen that Mr. Clay, so far from 
contemplating the expediency of higher and higher 
duties, believes that the rapid and constant progress 
of our manufactures tends ever to diminish instead 
of to increase the necessity of decidedly protective 
duties. He never was in favor of a high tariff. In 
bis own language, he believes that " the revenue 
' from the General Government should be derived 
' from the foreign import^, to the exclusion of direct 
' taxes, and the proceeds of the sales of public lands ; 
' and that no more revenue should be levied than is 
' necessary to an economical administration of the 
' Government ; but that, in levying it, such discrirai- 
■ nations ought to be made as will aiford moderate 
' and reasonable protection to American interests 
' against the rival and prohibitory policy of foreign 
' powers." 

Notwithstanding these clear and unequivocal dec- 
larations, the attempt is frequently made to mi.srep- 
resent Mr. Clay's views in regard to the Tariff. 
Surely there is uo longer any excuse foi* ignorance 
upon this subject among persons claiming to be in- 
telligent. 

The Whigs of Fayette county, Virginia, some 
time in September, 1843, wrote to Mr. Clay, re- 
questing him to favor them with a visit on his way 
to or return from North Carolina. By the following 
extracts from his reply, it will be seen that he is far 
from disguising his sentiments in regard to Mr. 
Tyler : 

" The treachery, gentlemen, of the acting Presi- 
dent, to which you allude in terms of just indigna- 
tion, is mortifying to us as Americans. 

" Considering the youth of our republic, and the 
virtuous and illustrious men who have filled the of- 
fice of Chief Magistrate of the Union, it is painful 
in the extreme to behold such an example of utter 
abandonment of all the obligations of honor, of duty, 
and of fidelity. But, far from allowing that degra- 
ding fact to throw us into a state of apathy and de- 
spondency, it ought to stimulate every American 
freeman to redouble his energies in rescuing his gov- 
ernment fiom the impure hands into which it has ac- 
cidentally fallen. 

" Against Mr. Tyler no exertion is necessary. He 
will soon retire with the contempt and amidst the 
scoffs of all honorable men. Our efforts should be 
directed against those who first seduced and then 
profited by him ; those who, after having won him 
to their uses, now affect to shrink from the contami- 
nating association ; those who, after his complete 
identification with them, and at the moment when 
he is appropriating to their exclusive advantage the 
whole patronage of the government, unjustly upbraid 
us with the failure of measures, the adoption of which 
was prevented by his perfidy and their countenance 
and support of him." 

In December, 1843, Mr. Clay's private affairs again 
required his presence in New-Orleans. He was 
welcomed on his route to that city by the same tes- 
timonials of popular attachment that had sigjialized 
his journey of the preceding year ; and, during his 
residence in the great southern metropolis, citizens 
of all parties seemed to unite in doing him honor. 
Before his departure, the State Convention of the 
Democratic 'Whigs of Louisiana, which was holding 
its session at the time, formed in procession, the 23d 
of February, 1844, and marched to the St. Charles 
hotel, where he was staying, to tender their respects. 
On the a.'ith of February, he reached Mobile, on his 
way to North Carolina. Although it was the sabbath, 
and of couree no civic ceremonieB denoted the wel- 



come which was swelling in every bo.som, yet the 
wharves were lined with a dense and innumerable 
throng, eager to catch a glimpse of him as he disem- 
barked. On the .5th of March, he left Mobile for 
Montgomery, Columbus (Georgia), Macon, and other 
intermediate cities on his route, followed by the best 
hopes of the people. 

A letter from him to the Whigs of 'Philadelphia, 
bearing date the 10th of February, 1844, is worthy 
of mention in this place for the sentiments it expres- 
ses in regard to Washington. Mr. Clay had been 
invited to unite in the celebration of the anniversary 
of the birth of the hero of Mount Vernon. Distance 
and unavoidable engagements prevented his accept- 
ance of the invitation. In his reply he says : " The 
' birth of no man that ever lived is so well entitled to 
' perpetual commemoration as a rare blessing be- 
' stowed on mankind by the goodness of Providence. 
' In contemplating his career and character, we be- 
' hold displayed and concentrated in him, calmness, 
' dignity, moderation, firnaness, fidelity, disinterest- 
' edness, wisdom — all the virtues that adorn the war- 
' rior, the patriot, the statesman, and the honest man. 
' Most justly has he acquired the title of the Father 
' of his Country. During the Revolution, and since, 
' many good men have arisen in the United States ; 
' but "Washington stands at an immeasuvable height, 
' elevated far above them all." 

On the 1st of April, 1844, Mr. Clay reached Co- 
lumbia, South Carolina, where he was the guest of 
the Hon. William C. Preston. On the 6th, he vis- 
ited Charleston ; and here all sorts of honors and 
gratulations were heaped upon him by the enthusi- 
astic Whigs of that hospitable city. He was re- 
ceived by an immense concourse of citizens in the 
theatre, and being addressed by the venerable Dr. 
William Read, one of the few surviving officers of 
the Revolution, he replied in a speech of nearly two 
hours' duration, which commanded and repaid the 
closest attention. As the Tariff was the subject 
which most intimately affected the interests of his 
hearers, he reiterated, with his accustomed frank- 
ness, his views in regard to it. He declared himself 
in favor of a system of protection, moderate, reason- 
able, certain, and durable — yielding no more revenue 
than is necessary for an honest and economical ad- 
ministration of the government, and, within that 
limit, discriminating in the imposition of duties be- 
tween those articles which do and those which do 
not enter into competition with domestic industry — 
throwing the heavier duty on the former and the 
lighter duty on the latter. Peace could only be 
found by taking the middle path. Neither interest 
nor section could expect to have it all its own way. 
The matter must be adjusted by concession, com- 
promise, conciliation — such concession, compromise, 
and conciliation, as led to the adoption of tiie Fede- 
ral Constitution, and under the influence of which 
our political union would continue to fulfil its sacred 
trust, and move forward in its high career a blessing 
to our race. 

At Raleigh on the 12th, Mr. Clay met with a re- 
ception every way worthy the " Old North State."' 
His friend and former fellow-laborer, B. W. Leigh, 
of Virginia, made the journey to Raleigh to meet 
him, and addressed the multitude from the porch of 
the capitol with great animation and effect. Mr. 
Clay waa escorted by an immenBe throng of citizene 



A Rdrosped — jHAe Harrisbur^h Convention — Wrongful Proceedings, 



79 



to the residence of the. Governor of the State, Mr. 
Morehead, where he remained during his stay in 
Baleigh. 

At Wilmington he addressed the people, and one 
paragraph of his speech commends him to the confi- 
dence of his countrymen of all parties. He said, " I 
' am a Whig : I am so because I believe the princi- 
' pies of the Whig party are best adapted to promote 
' the prosperity of the countrj'. I seek to change no 
' man's allegiance to his party, be it what it may. 
' A life of great length and experience has satisfied 
' me that all parties aim at the common good of the 
' country. The great body of the Democrats, as 
' well as the Whigs, are so from a conviction that 
' their policy is patriotic. I take the hand of one as 
' cordially as that of another, for all are Americans. 
' I place COUNTRY /ar above all parties. Look aside 
from that, and parties are no longer worthy of be- 
'ing cherished." 

On the 18th of April, he passed on to Petersburg, 
Virginia, and, the Saturday following, embarked for 
Norfolk, where he did not arrive till Sunday morn- 
ing, owing to the detention of the boat by fog. His 
progress was a series of ovations. On the 26tb, he 
arrived in Washington. He was now approaching 
one of the mo.st interesting epochs of his eventful 
life. By acclamation the Whigs of the country 
seemed to call upon him to stand forth once more, 
the worthiest embodiment of their principles, the 
candidate of their choice and affections. In eveiy 
State there were spontaneous movements of the peo- 
ple, which precluded all doubt as to the resalt of the 
deliberations of a Whig National Convention for the 
nomination of President. We must here indulge in 
a brief retrospect of public events connected with 
Mr. Clay's recent career ; and it is with no wish to 
revive old griefs that ^ve shall touch upon topics, in 
their views upon which good Whigs may differ. 
Our object is to present such facts as should guard 
us for the future against errors, which all experience 
calls out upon us to shun. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

A Retrospect — The Hanisburgh Convention — A Mistake 
committed — Jlr. Clay's Relations toward General Har- 
rison — Anecdotes — Mr. Clay and John Tyler. 

The Whig Convention of 1839 deserves further 
notice as the parent cause of all the disasters which 
have since attended the W^hig party. If Mr. Clay 
had been then nominated, as he ought to have been 
— if the will of those who constituted the convention 
had prevailed, there can be no doubt that he would 
have been elected hy a majority as great, if not 
greater, than General Harrison subsequently re- 
ceived. Being elected, all those measures and re- 
forms, of which the country stood so much in need, 
and which its welfare required, would have been 
successfully carried out. The pages in our annals 
on which the treachery of John Tyler cast a stain, 
would have presented a far different aspect. The 
party, which was prostrated and overwhelmed by the 
signal victory of 1840, would never again have risen 
into power, and we should have had no annexation 
of Texas, no war with Mexico, no anti-protective 
attacks upon domestic industry, no public debt, and 
none of those other fatal measures, under which the 



country is suffering, or from which it is destined t& 
suffer. 

That Convention violated a great principle. The 
only principle which can justify a Convention is, 
that it should truly collect and represent the public 
sentiment of those hy whom it has been delegated. 
If it may disregard the will of its constituents, and 
substitute in the place of it its own will, it ceases to 
be a representative body, and becomes, in efiect, an 
electoral college. Placed in that position, what com- 
pass has it, or what guide ? And what a field is at 
once opened for artful intrigue and for corrupt prac- 
tices ! 

That Mr. Clay was the choice of an immense ma- 
joiity of those who created the Convention, was in- 
contestable. So great, indeed, was that majority, 
that a leading and influential member of the Con- 
vention, who had largely contributed to bring about 
the nomination of General Harrison, remarked, a few 
days afterward, in Washington city, to Mr. Clay: 
' You, sir, were the choice of ninety-nine out of every 
hundred of the Whig party in the United States, but 
we were afraid that you could not get the hundredth 
man, and therefore we nominated General Harri- 
son." 

And how could the Convention have known that 
General Harrison would not lose some dozen or 
more of that ninety-nine ? Not only did the great 
body of the Whig party desire and expect Mr. Clay's 
nomination, but a great majority of the delegates to 
the Convention themselves left home with the inten- 
tion of voting for it. A member of the Maine dele- 
gation, at a public dinner given in the city of Wash- 
ington to the delegates who had assembled there 
shortly after the adjournment of the Convention, de- 
clared such to have been the intention of his delega- 
tion — and yet they voted otherwise. The delega- 
tion from Michigan was instructed to vote for Mr 
Clay ; and they voted against him. Several of the 
delegates from New York, who were instructed to 
vote for him, cast their vote for General Harrison. 
Many of the delegates from Massachusetts, Vermont, 
and New-Jersey, started from their homes with the 
same intention to vote for Mr. Clay, and they voted 
for General Harrison; 

This change of purpose was wrought on the jour- 
ney to the Convention through New- York, by the 
active intrigues of a few^ busy politicians of that 
State and city. The vote of the State of New- York, 
always important, was an object of deep solicitude 
in the approaching election ; and it is remarkable 
that some of the delegates from that State asserted, 
in the early stage of the proceedings of the Conven- 
tion, that General Scott alone could secure the vote 
of the State ; that the prospects of Mr. Clay were the 
next best, and that General Harrison stood no chance 
of gaining it. Yet tliose very delegates finally voted 
for General Harrison against Mr. Clay. &o shocked 
was an illustrious and venerable delegate from New- 
York (Peter R. Livingston) at the wrongful proceed- 
ings of the Convention, that he had his foot to the 
floor to rise and denounce them, and break it up ; 
and he was only restrained by the pleadings of some 
gentlemen who sat near him. 

Throughout the whole United States, when tlie 
decision of the Convention was known, one general 
feeling of disappointment and disapprobation per- 
vaded the ranks of the entire Whig party ; and 



80 



Life cf Henry Clay. 



many.who afterward supported the nominee, resolved 
in theircliagriu that they would not sustain him: their 
change of intention was broujiht about by the disin- 
terested and magnanimous course of Mr. Clay. We 
have already .seen that he addressed a letter to a 
delegate, which was read to the Convention ; but 
that was not all. Mr. Clay was not the man to dis- 
turb the harmony of the great movement then about 
to be made, by pressing upon the country any pre- 
tensions, however just, of his own. He well knew 
the wrong which iiad been done him ; but he felt 
that it was much more imporianl to the republic to 
eecure a better administration of its affairs than to 
elevate him to the Presidency. He therefore nobly 
suppressed his keen sense of the injustice which had 
been done him, and threw the whole of his zeal, 
ability, and influence, into the canvass in support of 
the nominee for whom he had been so injuriouslj' 
Biipplanted. He attended the dinner already men- 
tioned, given to the delegates aasembled at Wash- 
ington city, gave in his adhesion, and addressed the 
assembly in behalf of General Harrison. From the 
moment that this patriotic, self forgetting course was 
known throughout the Union, concord and harmony 
were the result; and the great Whig party awoke 
to urge on the good cause with zeal and enthusiasm. 
The triumphant result stands recorded in hLstory. 

All were sensible of the noble disinterestedness 
of Mr. Clay's course, but no one appreciated it more 
highly, or felt more grateful for it toward him, than 
General Harrison himself On the 15th of January, 
1840, the General addressed a letter from North Bend 
to Mr. Clay at Washington city, from which we have 
been permitted to make the following extract : 

"My Dear Sir: The generosity of your nature 
will not permit yon to doubt that my feelings of 
gratitude toward you for the magnanimity of your 
conduct toward me, in relation to the nomination for 
the Presidency, are such as they ought to be, al- 
though I have so long delayed to express them di- 
rectly to you. I must beg you also to believe that 
if the claims derived from your superior talents and 
experience (so universally acknowledged by my 
supporters) had prevailed over those whicii acci- 
dental circumstances had conferred upon me, and 
enabled the Convention to name you as the candi- 
date, that you would have had no more zealous 
supporter iu the Union than I should have been." 



During the whole canvass of 1840, and up to the 
time of General Harri.son's death, he and Mr. Clay 
were upon terms of the most coulidential intimacy. 
The first time they met after the election was at the 
house of Governor Letcher in Frankfort, Kentucky; 
and Mr. Clay afterward or)tertained the President 
elect at Ashland. During their interviews on tho.se 
occasions, they had long, full, and interesting conver- 
sations, on the state of public affairs. In their first 
interview, General Harrison offered, and Mr. Clay 
promptly declined, 071?/ place in the new administra-' 
tion. He was then resolved to retire from the Sen- 
ate to private life. Both of them concurred in the 
expediency of a call of an extra session of Congress, 
agreeing that the benefft of those measures of public 
policy which the people, in the great event that had 
just transpired, had signified their wish to bring 
about, ought not to be deferred to the ordinary pe- 
riod for the assembling of Congress. Indeed, the 
bankrupt condition in which Mr. Van Buren had 
left the treasury was of itself an evil which rendered 
an early convening of Congress indispensable. It 
was at their first interview at the Governor's, that 
Mr. Clay, after having declined the offer of any offi- 
cial station, suggested to General Harrison that he 
ought not, in his otScial arrangements, to overlook 
Mr. Webster, and that if he had himself been elect- 
ed, he should have felt bound, from the high estima- 
tion in which that gentleman was then held by the 
Whig party, to tender him some distinguished place- 
He did not designate any particular station to which 
he thought Mr. Web.ster ought to be appointed. Mr. 
Clay was induced to make this suggestion, because the 
ground had been taken in several leading Whig jour- 
nals that itke did not go into the cabinet, Mr. W ebster 
ought not. The suggestion of Mr. Clay appeared to 
remove a burden from the mind of General Harrison ; 
and the next day, the latter, in conversation with 
several gentlemen at Frankfort, indulged in exces- 
sive prai.se of Mr. Clay for his great disinterestednesa 
and magnanimity. 

After the return of General Harrison from Ken- 
tucky to North Bend, he and Mr. Clay did not meet 
i until the arrival of the former at Washington to en- 
yter upon the duties of the high office to which he had 
been elected. Their friendly intimacy was again 
renewed. General Harrison placed his inaugural 
address in the hands of Mr. Clay, with the request 



Since the unfortunate nomination at Harrisburgh that he would examine it, and intimate any altera- 



in December, 1839, or rather, since the unfortunate 
events which ensued, the party of the Opposition, at 
their Convention at Baltimore in 1844, have commit- 
ted a similar mistake. Disregarding public seuti- 
inent and the popular sympathy, they selected for 
the Presidency a gentleman but little known, and 
vho. perhaps, had not been thought of for that office 
by a solitary being in the United States. The inju 
rious, the fatal consequences of that selection are 
DOW, and will be, for a long time to come, every- 
where felt and deplored. It is in the order of Provi- 
dence, however, to chastise deviations from correct 
principle; and, as the result was in tlie case of the 
Whig party in 1844, so will it probably be in that of 
its opponents at the next election, a signal and over- 
whelming overthrov/. Heaven grant that the Whigs 
may not, by a repetition of their old blunder, offset 
the effects upon his party of the nomination of Mr. 
Polk, of Tennessee ! 



tions that might occur to him as being necessary. He 
at the same time informed him that a member of his 
projected cabinet had prepared an inaugural for him, 
which he wished him to adopt, but that he would 
not substitnte it for his own for fjty thousand dol- 
lars. Several of the intended members of the cabi- 
net apprehended that General Harrison's composi- 
tion would not be well received by the public, and 
they applied to Mr. Clay to induce him to modify it. 
In compliance with their request, Mr. Clay carefully 
examined the document, and proposed a number of 
inconsiderable alterations, some having reference to 
the phraseologj-, and some to the sentiment; and 
most of these the new President promptly and thank- 
fully adopted. But there was one alteration, longer 
than any of the others, which he proposed, and 
against thin the General set his face. The pro- 
posed alteration was, to expunge the clauses rela- 
ting to the Qneeks and Romans, which may now be 



Mr. Clay's Relations toward General Harrison — Anecdote — Mr. Clay and John Tyler. 81- 



seen in the early part of his aJdress. This was 
touching the General on a tender i)oint; and, in de- 
clining to adopt it, lie remarked that he was partic- 
ularly attached to allusions and illustrations drawn 
from Greek and Roman history ; and npiopo.i to this 
remark he related the foilowiue; anecdote of himself: 

When a member of the House of Representatives, 
lie was one day addressing the Speaker in a speech 
of considerable vehemence and length. During its 
delivery he made frequent citations from Greek and 
Roman history. The galleries were excessively 
thronged, and a man was endeavoring to push his 
way through the crowd to a position where he 
could see as well as hear. He could not reach one ; 
but hearing the references to the Greeks and the 
Romans, he exclaimed, with the most emphatic of 
oaths, " That's General Harrison ! Though I can't 
see him, 1 know him by what he says of the Greeks 
and Romans !" 

Mr. Clay's great anxietj', after General Harrison's 
entrance upon his official duties, was, to secure the 
adoption of those public measures which, by his 
election, and through his administration, the people 
wished to establish. This was the absorbing desire 
of Mr. Clay's heart. He knew that if he interfered 
in the disposal of the patronage of the Government. 
lie would excite jealousies against himself, to which 
he was aware there existed a predisposition, and 
impair his just influence in the establishment of wise 
systems of policy. Painful, therefore, as it was for 
him to abstain from promoting the wishes of fiicuds 
whom he would gladly have served, he abstained 
from all interference in public appointments further 
than to endeavor to prevent the adoption of one or 
two, which he regarded as injudicious and bad. 

If General Harrison had lived, there is reason to 
believe that all the great and leading measures of 
the Whig party would have been successfully car- 
ried out. But it pleased Providence to decree oth- 
erwise. The nation had to deplore the untimely 
death of General Harrison in one short month after 
his installation, and John Tj'ler, as the Vice-Presi- 
dent, succeeded him. 

Mr. Clay had known this latter gentleman a num- 
ber of years, although he had had no hand in his 
nomination to the ofiice from which he was trans- 
ferred to the Presidencj'. Mr. Tyler was affable, 
polite, and agreeable, in company and conversation. 
He had made no great figure in any of the various 
offices which he had filled, was not considered firm 
of purpose, yet always acquitted himself respecta- 
bly, and was supposed to be at least honest. His 
inaugural address, through the medium of the press 
at Washington, created hopes — btit hopes, which, in 
the sequel, were sadly disappointed. Shortly after 
the death of General Harrison, Mr. Clay received 
two remarkable letters from Virginia, which deserve 
a passing notice. One of them was from a distin- 
guished citizen of the city of Richmond, and bears 
date the 4th of April, 1841, the very day on which 
President Han-ison expired. To the letter, the great- 
er part of which was on business, was appended a 
postscript to the following effect: "We have very 
bad accounts from W^ashington as to the state of 
General Harrison's health. His death is seriously 

apprehended. Your friend. Judge B , wa.s just 

row with me, and says that Harrison will certainly 

die I that Tyler luck u-ill kill h im . Should that event 

6 



happen, and Tyler come \T\,he will play the devil ; — ■ 
how, 1 don't know : but I am sure he u-ill play the 
devil!" 

The other letter, also from aa eminent citizen, 
was dated the 7th of April, 1841, at Williamsburgb, 
the place of Mr. Tyler's residence, and to it was ap- 
pended a postscript substantially as follows : " We 
have just heard of the death of President Harri-son, 
and 1 have just seen Mr. Tyler, who is to succeed 
him. I told him that it was a great event, and shifted 
on him an immense respoD«il)ility ; but that if, upon 
going to Washington, he would embrace .some suit- 
able occasion to announce to the public that he did 
not mean to be a candidate for the succession, he 
would have an easy and probably a successful ad- 
ministration. He remarked, in reply, that he had 
just been thinking of that ; but," adds the writer, 
'• it was maiiifest to nietliat he had not been thinking 
favorably nf it." . 

Notwithstanding these predictions and expres- 
sions of distrust, Mr. Clay, in May, 1841, proceeded 
to W^ashington to attend the extra session, with a 
firm determination faithfully to perlbrm his own duty, 
and to conciliate Vice-President Tyler as far as he 
could, and engage him to concur and co-operate in 
the adoption of the public measures demanded by 
the public welfare, and of which an expectation was 
authorized by the ascendency of the Whigs in the 
national councils. 

Upon Mr. Clay's arrival at the seat of government, 
he promptly called on Mr. Tyler, dined with him, 
frequently visited him at tea in the evening, and, on 
these occasions, conversed with him in the most 
frank, friendly, and confidential manner. During 
those visits, the snbjectof aBank of the United States 
frequently formed the topic of conversation ; and Mr. 
Tyler declared that he had formed no opinion against 
one ; that he would form none on the subject till a 
bill should be matured, passed, and pre.sented to 
him ; and that no mortal, in the meantime, should 
know what was to be his final determination. And 
yet, notwithstanding these posititive declarations, 
Mr. Clay had abundant reasons afterward to believe 
that Mr. Tyler, before the passage of the Bank-bill, 
had stated to others that he would approve no Bank- 
bill that could be presented to him ! 

In his evening visits at the White-House, Mr. Clay 
often met suspicious persons, who created in his 
mind some apprehension and alarm. He, however, 
continued his visits until the levee of the 4th of July, 
which was the last time he ever entered the presi- 
dential mansion. W^hile the Bank-bill was pending 
in the Senate, he reluctantly consented to the intro- 
duction into it of the clause relating to the branches 
of the Bank, providing for the contingencies of the 
assent or dissent of the States in which it might be 
proposed to establish them. He yielded to it from 
two considerations : the first was, that he had reason 
to believe, from communications received from mem- 
bers of the cabinet of Mr. Tyler, that he would cer- 
tainly approve the bill with that clause inserted ; the 
second was, that without it, the votes of two Sena- 
tors could not be obtained which were indispensable 
to the passage of the bill through the Senate. 

The measures which Mr. Clay regarded as impor- 
I tant to occupy the attention of the extra session were 
I indicated by him in a scries of resolutions proposed 
1 iu ibe early part of the session. It will be seen, upoa 



Life of Henry Clay. 



82 ____. 

an examination of them, that the Bankrupt bill was 
not one of those measures. He thought that the con- 
sideration of it ought to be postponed to the ordinary 
cession. But, owing to the perseverance of Senator 
Tallniadge, of New York, it was finally agreed to 
act upon it. But it cannot be regarded as one of 
Mr. Clay's measures, although he cheerfully shares 
the responsibility of its pas.-^age, believes that it was 
rendered necessary to individuals by the ruinous 
measures of the two previous administrations, and 
that its operation, upon the whole, was beneficial to 
the public. 

Never did Mr. Clay, and never, perhaps, did any 
other man perform the same amount of hard labor 
in the same space of time, that ha did daring that 
extra session. His whole soul seemed engrossed 
with the duty of fulfilling the promises which the 
Whig party had made to the country. He declined 
almost all invitations to dinners and entertainments. 
His habit was to rise as early as live o'clock every 
morning, dash on horseback into the country six or 
eeven miles, and return to an early breakfast. From 
that time until ten or eleven o'clock at night he was 
constantly engaged, either in the preparation of busi- 
ness for the Senate, in attendance upon committees 
or the Senate itself, or in consultation with his politi- 
cal friends. During the arduous debate on the Bank 
bill, which was continued several weeks, he was 
left almost alone to struggle will) a host of opponents. 
On one occasion he had to rise and answer seven 
of them, who had assailed the bill. He sometimes 
felt as if he were deserted by his friends, not being 
aware of what he afterward learned, that they had, 
upon a conference among themselves, deemed it 
best to leave the subject to his exclusive manage- 
ment. 

We have alluded to the visit of Mr. Clay, in the 
eummer of 1840, to the humble spot in Han'over 
county, Virginia, which gave him birth. On this 
occasion he was surprised to find the total change 
which all the scenes of his boyhood had undergone. 
He had not been there for upward of forty-five years, 
and everything was so altered, that he would not 
Lave recognized the spot had he not been told it 
was the same. Small pine trees, not higher than 
his head when he left it, in which the " old fields," 
as they are called in that part of Virginia, abound, 
had grown up into tall forest trees. Orchards had 
disappeared, and others been planted in their places. 
The graves of his father, grandfather, and grand- 
mother, had been levelled and obliterated by the 
plough, and the only guide to the spot where they 
reposed was an old stump of a pear-tree, whose po- 
sition he recollected. Peace to their spirits! It 
matters little to them whether the ploughshare cut 
the turf above their poor mortal dust, or a stately 
monument mark the place of its interment. 

The dwelling house alone remained without any 
essential change ; and tradition had carefully pre- 
eerved a recollection of the room in which Mr. Clay 
was born. He was anxious to find a hickory-tree, 
remarkable for the excellence of its fruit, which 
stood near by the spring that supplied his father's 
family with water. It no longer s;ood there — it was 
gone ! Upon inquiry after it of a friend in the neigh- 
borhood, who was possessed of a somewhat poetical 
imagination, he replied that when General Jackson 
was elected President, the uee withered -, and when 



he removed the deposits from the Bank of the United 
States, it fell decayed to the earth. Mr. Clay, of 
course, laughed heartilj' at this fanciful account of 
the fate of his favorite tree. 

W^e turn from these desultory retrospections to the 
ftirring political events which preceded and attended 
the presidential canvass of 1844. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Mr. Clay is nominated for the Presidency— He returns to 
Kentucky— The Texas Question, and his Views upon 
it— Their Fnllilment— The Annexation Scheme— The 
Whig Conventions at Baltimore- Mr. Clay accepts the 
Nomination for the Presidency— The Democratic Con- 
vention—Party Preparations — Old Slanders revived — 
The Election and the Result. 

Mr. Clay's sojonm in Washington during the 
spring of 1844 was one of respite from the fatigues 
of travel and public receptions. On the 1st of May, 
he was nominated for the Presidency by the Whig 
National Convention at Baltimore, and on the 13th 
of the same month he set out for Ashland, attended 
only by his sou, and arrived at Lexington the even- 
ing of Saturday the 18th, in fine health and spirits. 
Here he was enthusiastically welcomed by an im- 
mense collection of his fellow-citizens. In vain did 
he attempt to escape from the pageant of a public re- 
ception. He was compelled to listen to an address 
of salutation and compliment. His reply was can- 
did, good-humored, and to the point. He told the 
multitude that he was happy to see them— happy to 
see even,' one of them — " but there was an excellent 
old lady in the neighborhood, whom he would rather 
see than any one else" — so, begging them to allow 
him to return to Ashland, he bade them good-night ! 
This irresistible appeal was received in the spirit in 
which it was made ; and amid the blaze of torches 
and the cheers of the people, he was escorted to his 
home. 

Events of interest to the country and to himself 
had transpired during the interval of his absence. 
The question of the annexation of Texas, that fer- 
tile source of many woes, had come up ; and he had 
written a most statesmanlike letter on the subject. 
Disca.ssioDS in regard to him had been started in Con- 
gress with the view of affecting his political pros- 
pects; and a Whig Convention, assembled at Balti- 
more, had, on the 1st of May, 1844, nominated Hen- 
ry Clay for President of the United States, and The- 
odore Frelinghuysen for Vice-President. 

Mr. Clay's letter on the Texas question was writ- 
ten while he was partaking the hospitalities of Gov- 
ernor Morehead at Raleigh, the 17th of April. In 
this letter he states the fact that, during his sojourn 
iu New-Orleans, he had been greatly surprised by 
information received from Texas, that in the course 
of the autumn of 1843, a voluntary overture had pro- 
ceeded from the Executive of the United States to 
the authorities of Texas, to conclude a treaty of an- 
nexation. To the astonishment of the whole nation, 
we were now informed that a treaty of annexation 
had been actually concluded, and was to be submit- 
ted to the Senate for its consideration. If, without 
tlie loss of national character, without the hazard of 
foreign war, with the general concurrence of the na- 
tion, without any danger to tlie integrity of the 
Union, and without an unreasonable price, the ques- 



The Texas Question, and Mr. Clay's Views upon it — Mr. jinson. Jones, 



83 



tion of annexation were presented, it would appear 
in quite a different ligbt. Mr. Clay tlicn enters upon 
a review of our past negotiations in regard to tiic 
territory of Texas, and of the relations of Texas 
toward Mexico. And the conclusion at which he 
arrives is, that if tlie Government of the United 
States were to ncquu'c Texas, it would acquire 
along with it all the incumbrances which Texas is 
under, and among them the actual or suspended war 
between Mexico and Texas. 

And hore the language of Mr. Clay has the em- 
phasis of prophecy : " Ofthat consequence," he says, 
*' there cannot be a doubt. Annexation and rear wiih 
Mexico ate identical." In conclusion he remarks: 
" I consider the annexation of Texas, at this time, 
without the assent of Mexico, as a measure compro- 
mising the national character, involving us certainly 
in war with Mexico, probably with other foreign 
powers, dangerous to the integrity of the Union, in- 
expedient in the present financial condition of the 
country, and not called for by any general expres- 
sion of public opinion." In a subsequent letter, 
dated Ashland, July 27, 1844, and addressed to two 
gentlemen of Alabama, Mr. Clay says unhesitatingly, 
tliat, far from having any personal objection to the 
annexation of Texas, he should be glad to see it, 
u-ilhout dishonor ; but, at the same time, he expres- 
ses the conviction that annexation at that time, and 
under existing circumstances, would compromit the 
honor of the country ; involve us in a war, in which 
the sympathies of all Christendom would be against 
U9 ; and endanger the integrity of the Union. Na- 
tional dishonor, foreign war, and distraction and di- 
vision at home, were too great sacrifices to make 
for the acquisition of Texas. Ho remarks in this 
letter: "I do not think that the subject of slavery 
' ought to affect the question one way or the other. 
' Whether Texas be independent, or incorporated 
' in the United States, I do not believe it will pro- 
' long or shorten the duration of that institution. It 
' is destined to become extinct at some distant day, 
' in my opinion, by the operation of the inevitable 
' laws of population." 

As the period for the nomination of presidential 
candidates approached, it became more and more 
apparent that the Texas question was destined to 
ovenide all others in the coming contest. The Bank, 
the Tariff, and all subordinate matters, were merged 
in the one great issue of the immediate Annexation 
of Texas. Among the Whigs there was a general 
acquiescence in the views of Mr. Clay on the sub- 
ject. Some persons, who entertained extreme opin- 
ions as to the feasibility of the immediate abolition 
of slavery, thought him too tolerant; and others, 
whose interests inclined them a different way, saw, 
in his opposition to annexation, hostility to the ex- 
tension of an institution which, it was well known, 
lie had always regarded as an evil. But the great 
body of the Whigs of the Union responded heSrtily 
to his sentiments, and recognized the wisdom of his 
policy and the patriotism of his motives. 

Soon after the withdrawal of Mr. Webster from the 
cabinet, it began to be rumored that our Government 
Lad made overtures inviting application from the 
authorities of Texas for its annexation to the United 
States. These overtures, it was said, were at first 
coolly received by President Houston ; but " being 
again approached, not to say importuned, by the Ex- 



ecutive of the United States, he coyly a.'5sented to 
listen to proposals." In the meantime, sedulous ef- 
forts were made to bring about that state of public 
opinion in this country that should favor the move- 
ments of the friends of annexation. Insidious ap- 
peals were multiplied throughout nearly all the Dem- 
ocratic journals, intended to arouse the jealousy of 
our people in regard to the designs of foreign pow- 
ers. It was boldly asserted that England was in- 
triguing with the view of establishing Texas as an 
independent power, and that there was great danger 
that the young republic would yield to the allure- 
ments which were held out. The slaveiiolding States 
were called upon to protect themselves against the 
danger of so formidable a rival as Texas would bo 
under the protection of Great Britain. And then- 
there was the pet phrase, to which, we believe, Mr. 
Bancroft first gave currency, of " extending the area 
of freedom !" 

It now appears, from the confessions of President 
Houston and his Secretary of State, Mr. Anson Jones, 
that our Government was not a match for that of 
Texas in diplomacy. Mr. Tyler and his advisers 
were completely duped by the Jincsse of Messrs. 
Houston and Jones. The bugbear of English inter- 
ference was the most unsubstantial of chimeras, and 
the arguments and assertions based upon it and used 
for operating on the minds of the people of the Uni- 
ted States, were false and empty. Mr. Anson Jones, 
in a series of letters recently pnblished in the Gal- 
veston Civilian, claims that it was his diplomacy in 
bringing about the needful state of feeling in thia 
country, which precipitated the annexation move- 
ment ; that it was the adroitness of Texas policy 
which accomplished an object that might have been 
delayed for years. He iit the same time denies that 
there was any intrigue with foreign powers injuri- 
ous to the interests of the United States or really ad- 
verse to ultimate annexation. He also makes a dec- 
laration which throws light upon the effect which 
the mode of annexation had upon the origin of the 
war. He is of opinion that the selection by Mesar.i. 
Tyler and Calhoun of the House resolutions instead 
of the Senate amendment was extremely injudicioUii, 
and he expresses his surprise that that alternative 
should have been presented to Texas instead of the 
other and more peaceful mode presented in the prop- 
osition for negotiation. He says that this decision 
of the Government of the United States produced 
surprise in that of Texas, from the belief that war 
would immcdiatcli/ foUmv ; whereas, by the Senate's 
mode of proceeding, annexation could have been 
.effected without war : but he says that Texas had 
no option but to accept the mode selected by Presi- 
dent Tyler. The joint resolution of the House pro- 
vided for the admission of Texas into the Union or.-, 
certain conditions. The amendment of the Senc/iSi- 
which Mr. Tyler chose to set a.eide, provided for 
missions and negotiations, for the arrangement of 
terms of admission and cession. 

The appeals and misrepresentations of the pro- 
annexation party undoubtedly had a great effect 
upon that large portion of the people who had nei- 
ther leisure nor opportunity to look behind tlje cur- 
tain and witness the questionable means and mo- 
tives at v/ork for the accomplishment of a measure 
big with portents of war, and death, and slavery. 
Could they have eeeo the spriugs v/bich set the 



84 



Life of Henry Clay. 



pageant in motion, they might have been disenchant- 
ed. The personal ambition of Mr. John Tyler to 
associate his narae with an important movement, 
and to place himself, perhaps, as a prominent can- 
didate for a second presidential term before the peo- 
ple, was the insignificant origin of that train of na- 
tional sins and evils which led to the war with 
Mexico. The Democratic Convention and Mr. Polk 
did but steal Mr. Tyler s thunder, and take up the 
• bread of Iiis policy. The issue which they chose to 
■.iiake with the opposite party and the people was 
one which Mn, Tyler had provided for his own ends, 
but which was now remorselessly adopted by those 
who saw in it an instrument for operating upon the 
cupidity, the prejudices, and the fears, of a large 
number of their countrymen. 

The Mexican authorities had emphatically de- 
clared that annexation would be regarded as an act 
of war on our part. Mr. Clay had expressed his be- 
lief that war would inevitably follow the measure. 
Mr. Van Buren, escaping for once from the trammels 
of non coramittalism, had written a long letter in de- 
cided opposition to the project of immediate annex- 
ation ; and for this he was thrown overboard by the 
Democratic Convention of May, 1844, who in their 
resolutions recommended the "re-annexation of Tex- 
as, at the earliest practicable period, to the cordial 
. support of the democracy of the Union.' Theeound- 
:aess of Mr. Clay's views on this question has been 
abundantly verified in the course of events, though 
his predictions were decried as chimerical at the 
time. Annexation was the prin)ary, if not the proxi- 
mate cause, of the war with Mexico. 

It was while this annexation scheme was matu- 
ring, and all the arts and devices which chicanery 
could invent to reconcile public opinion were being 
actively employed, that the Conventions of the two 
pvez.1 parties of the Union for the nomination of can- 
didates for the presidential term commencing in 
March, 1845, met at Baltimore. The Whig Conven- 
tion met first. On the 1st of May, 1844, the city of 
Baltimore presented an extraordinary spectacle. 
The whole population seemed astir, while a new 
one, that was almost to outnumber it, was pouring 
in on all sides. At evei-y avenue, railroad-depot, and 
wharf, wherever coaches, cars, and steamboats, could 
disengage their passengers, there was a scene of ani- 
mation exhibited that bespoke the anticipation of 
some great event. There were to be three Conven- 
tions during the week : the National Convention for 
the nomination of a President and Vice-President ; 
the Ratification Convention of Whig young men 
from all parts of the Union ; and the Maryland Gu- 
hematorial Convention. 

The hospitality of Baltimore was satisfactorily 
tested on this occasion. An eye-witness of the scene 
which the city presented described it thus : " The 
' whole place resembles a fair. Every street is alive 
' with people, hurrying to and fro from the depots, 
' crowding the sidewalks, clustering round the ho- 
' tels, chattering, laughing, singing, huzzaing. From 
' time to time, as new delegations arrive, music 
■•sounds, banners wave, and the Whigs, with eager 
' looks and hope and triumph in their eyes, continue 
' to pour in by thousands from the remotest quarters 
' of the Union. Clay badges hang conspicuously at 
' all button-holes ; Clay portraits. Clay banners, Clay 
' ribands, Clay songs, Clay quickstep.^, Clay marches, 



' Clay caricatures, meet the eye in all directions. Oh, 
' the rushing, the driving, the noise, the excitement ! 
' To see, and hear, and feel, is glory enough for one 
' day. Not only are hotels and boarding-houses of 
' all grades and calibers already filled and overflow- 
' ing, but private dwellings are thrown open with 
' that warm-hearted hospitality which has ever char- 
' acterized this ardent and excitable population. E v- 
• erybody is talking : some about who is to be Vice- 
' President, but more in anticipation of Thursday's 
' gala. The procession will surpass anything wit- 
' nessed in this country." 

On W^ednesday, the 1st of May, 1844, the Whig 
National Convention for the nomination of President 
and Vice President of the United States was held in 
the Universalist church in Calvert street. On cal- 
hng the list of delegates, it was found that there were 
only two who did not answer to their names, and 
they were from the State of Mississippi. The promp- 
titude and unanimity showai in this full attendance 
was regarded as a happy augury. The Hon. Am- 
brose Spencer of New York was appointed Presi- 
dent of the Convention, assisted by Vice-Presidents 
from all the States of the Union. 

For months there had been no doubt ordiiference 
among the Whigs as to the nominee. The task of 
the Convention was not. therefore, an embaiTassing 
one. Mr. Leigh, of Virginia, rose and remarked that 
the voice of the Whig party of the country was so 
decidedly in favor of a certain individual for the 
Presidency, that it would be unnecessary to go 
through the usual forms of a nomination. He thea 
offered a resolution, declaring Henry Clay, of Ken- 
tucky, to be unanimously chosen as the W^hig can- 
didate for the Presidency of the United States, and 
that he be recommended to the people as such. This 
resolution was adopted by acclamation amid loud 
and prolonged tokens of enthusiasm and applause. 
A committee, composed of Messrs. Berrien of Geor- 
gia, Barnett of Ohio, Archer of Virginia. Lawrence 
of Massachusetts, and Erastus Root of New York, 
was appointed to wait on Mr. Clay and inform him 
of his nomination. On a proposition being made 
that Mr. Clay, who was in \Vashington, should ap- 
pear in Baltimore the next day, " before the count- 
less thousands who would then be assembled to rat- 
ify the nomination," a letter was read from Mr. Clay, 
in which he briefly said that he could not reconcile 
it with his sense of delicacy and propriety to attend 
cither of the Whig Conventions that week in Balti- 
more. 

The choice of the Convention for Vice-President 
fell upon the Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, of 
New Jersey. The result of the first ballot taken, 
showed -275 votes, of which 138 were neccssai-y to a 
choice. John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, had :i8 ; 
Millard Fillmore, of New- York, 53 ; John Davis, of 
Massachusetts, 83; Theodore Frelinghuysen, 101. 
The result of the second vote was— for John Ser- 
geant, 32 ; Millard Fillmore, 57 ; John Davis, 74 ; 
Theodore Frelinghuysen, 118. The result of the 
third vote was— for John Davis, 7G ; for Millard Fill- 
more, 40 ; for Theodore Frelinghuysen, 155. So it 
was announced that Theodore Frelinghuysen, 
having received a majority of all the votes given, vyas 
the candidate of the Convention for the oihce of Vice- 
President of the United States. 
Mr. Frelinghuyseu had been in the Senate of the 



The Conventions at Baltimore — Mr. Clay nominated — Mr. Van Buren overthrown. 85 



United States, and he deservedly possessed the es- 
teem and confidence of the Whigs to the fullest ex- 
tent. He had, however, become identilied with an 
important religious sect, at whose Bible anniversa- 
ries and missionary meetings he was frequently an 
active and influential attendant. He was known to 
belong to the Presbyterian deiwmination of Chris- 
tians ; and this circumstance, while it brought over 
few additions to the Whig ranks, was destined to 
be used with great effect in prejudicing the minds 
of Roman Catholics and foreigners generally against 
the Whig presidential ticket. 

On the -^A of May, the day after the Whig nom- 
inations had been made, the " Ratification Conven- 
tion," composed principally of Whig young men 
from all parts of the country, had their proces.sion 
and their meetings. " This was, beyond doubt," 
says an eye-witness, " the largest and most imposing 
political assemblage that ever convened in the Uni- 
ted States. Every State of the Union was repre- 
sented, and several of them by thousands of dele- 
gates; an assemblage of distinguished statesmen from 
one extreme of the Union to the other was congre- 
gated, not of young men only, but veterans in their 
country's service. The venerable Ambrose Spen- 
cer, the associate of Jefferson in his most ardent po- 
litical struggle, was greeted by others of the same 
school from the east, west, north, and south, Web- 
ster and Berrien were there ; Crittenden and Clay- 
ton, George Evans from Maine, Thomas Ewing 
from Ohio, Morehead from Kentucky. Eleven ex- 
Governors of the States attended the Convention." 

We must refer the curious reader to the newspa- 
pers of the period for a full description of the great 
political pageant of the ratification. The procession 
through the principal streets of Baltimore was as re- 
markable for its numbers as for the enthu.siasm of 
which it was the index. " It would be in vain," 
writes one who witnessed it, " to attempt an enu- 
meration of the banners or their devices : this, I sup- 
pose, will all be minutely recorded by some modern 
Froissart. Some of them were splendid in the high- 
est degree, especially the grand national prize ban- 
ner, which was placed upon a high, tasteful car, 
drawn by four white horses. There were numer- 
ous likenesses of Henry Clay, some of them very 
exquisitely painted, and in various degrees approxi- 
mating a resemblance of the original, whose true 
face, however, has never yet been presented, save 
to those who have looked upon the living original. 
The truth is, that Mr. Clay's countenance varies so 
exceedingly in its expression, according to the cir- 
cumstances in which he is placed, that could it be 
struck into marble at any one moment, those who 
had seen him only when in a different mood, would 
find fault with it as no likeness. The favorite was 
here shown up in various phases: sometimes as a 
statesman, seated, and surrounded by books and pa- 
pers ; sometimes as the farmer of Ashland, in a rural 
scene, with cattle, plough, and instruments of hus- 
bandry ; again as ' Father of the American System,' 
with emblems of home industry round him ; often 
under the protection of the eagle of his country ; and 
oftener between allegorical figures of Wisdom, Jus- 
tice, and all manner of virtues ; and in several cases 
as the favored of his countrymen, who lean upon his 
portrait with smiles, or point to him as their bene- 
factor. Had Mr. Clay been present, he might be 



said, parodying the line of Gray, to read his history 
in a nation's banners." 

At this second Convention the Hon. John M. Clay- 
ton, of Delaware, presided. Judge Berrien, from 
the committee appointed at the nomiiiating conven- 
tion to communicate to Mr. Clay the intelligence of 
their choice, read the letter of the committee, and 
Mr. Clay's reply. " Confidently believing," says Mr. 
Clay, " that this nomination is in conformity with the 
desire of a majority of the people of the United States, 
I accept it, from a high sense of duty, and with feel- 
ings of profound gratitude." Mr. Webster, having 
been called for, addres.sed the meeting eloquently in 
behalf of the nominations, remarking that all the in- 
dications of public sentiment, in all quarters, had pro- 
claimed that Mr. Clay, of all the rest, was the man 
on whom, upon this occasion, the voice of the coun- 
try had concentrated. The Ratification Convention, 
after the adoption of appropriate resolutions, ad- 
journed sine die. 

The day after their adjournment, a letter from Mr. 
Clay, dated Washington, May 3, 1844, was addressed 
to the National Intelligencer, in which, by way of 
reply to the numerous invitations poured in upon 
him to visit his fellow-citizens at various points of 
the Union, he says: " Hereafter, and until the pend- 
ing presidential election is decided, I cannot accept 
nor attend any public meeting of my fellow-citizens, 
assembled in reference to that object, to which I may 
have been or shall be invited. It is my wish and in- 
tention, when I leave this city, to return home as 
quietly and quickly as possible, and, employing my- 
self in my private business and afl'airs, there to await 
the decision of the presidential election, acquiescing 
in it, whatever it may be, with the most perfect sub- 
mission." 

Twenty-six days after the adjournment of the 
Convention which nominated Mr. Clay, there were 
two more political Conventions in Baltimore for the 
purpose of nominating presidential candidates. One 
of these met on the 27th of May in the Odd-Fellows' 
Hall, North Gay street ; and, after a rather stormy 
session of three days, nominated, to the surprise of 
everybody, Mr. James K. Polk, of Tennessee, for the 
Presidency. The next day, Mr. George M. Dallas, 
of Pennsylvania, was nominated by the same body 
for the Vice-Presidency ; Silas Wright, of New- 
York, having declined the nomination. The other 
presidential Convention to which we have referred 
met in another part of the city, also on the 27th, and, 
with extraordinary unanimity, nominated Mr. John 
Tyler for the Presidency. 

At an early stage in the proceedings of the Dem- 
ocratic Convention, a proposition was brought for- 
ward by Mr. Saunders, of North Carolina, requiring 
a two-third vote to make a nomination. This was 
a fatal blow at the prospects of Mr. Van Buren, and 
his friends vehemently opposed the proposition. Mr. 
Benjamin F. Butler, of New-York, the most active 
of Mr. Van Buren's adherents, declared that he knew 
well that in voting by simple majority, the friend he 
was pledged to support would receive a majority of 
from ten to fifteen, and consequently the nomination. 
If two thirds should be required to make a choice, 
that friend must inevitably be defeated, and that de- 
feat caused by the action of States that could not be 
claimed as democratic. But, notwithstanding the 
remonstrances of Mr. Butler and others, the two- 



m 



Life of Henry Clay. 



third system of nomination was agreed npou by a 
vote of I'lS to 118. After seven bailotings, in which 
Messrs. Van Buren and Cass received the greater 
number of votes out of seven candidates, it began to 
be apparent that the friends of tlie annexation policy 
were destined to carry the day. Mr. Young, of 
New-Yorl^, remarked that " a firebrand had been 
thrown into their camp by the mongrel Administra- 
tion at Washington, and this was the motive seized 
upon as a pretext for a change on the part of some 
gentlemen. That firebrand was the abominable 
Texas question ; — b7ii thai question, like a fever, 
Kould wear itself out, or kill the patient.'' 

In his letter of April 1)3, 1844, to a committee in 
Cincinnati, Mr. Polk had remarked : " I have no 
besitation in declaring that I am in favor of tJie im- 
mediate reanncxation of Texas to the territory and 
government o( the United States." There could not 
be a doubt that it was for their views on this ques- 
tion, henceforth to be made the predominant one, that 
Mr. Van Buren was abandoned and Mr. Polk adopt- 
ed as the candidate. " Let Texas be the watch- 
word,'" said General Jackson subsequently in his let- 
ter of June 14, 1844, " and victory is certain." 

As for the Tyler Convention, it was never regard- 
ed in any other light than as a joke by the intelligent. 
The Democratic party, thinking they could use Mr. 
Tyler for their own peculiar ends, tried to preserve 
their gravity upon the subject and look serious; they 
succeeded pretty well in this until they had no fur- 
ther use for the renegade, and then their laughter, 
long suppressed, burst forth : and they have ever 
since extended no other notice than that of derision 
to Mr. Tyler and his friends. This Convention was 
composed in a great measure of men with little po- 
litical or any other character to boast of. Its re- 
sults were impotent and abortive. After affording 
amusement to paragraphists and newspaper readers ; 
after Mr. Tyler had been nominated and had ac- 
cepted the nomination, the farce ended with the 
formal withdrawal of his name from the list of candi- 
dates before the people. 

And now the war of calumny, misrepresentation, 
and abuse, which had been waged in years past 
against Mr. Clay, was revived in all its virulence. 
That staple article of electioneering slander, the old 
coalition story, was manufactured anew for the mar- 
ket, with variations to suit the taste of a new gener- 
ation. Shortly before the meeting of the Whig Con- 
vention, Mr. Linn Boyd, of Kentucky, had intro- 
duced the subject on the floor of the House of Rep- 
resentatives. It would be tedious to quote his cita- 
tions of exploded calumnies, and show bow and 
when their utter falsehood was proved. The con- 
clusion at which Mr. Boyd arrives, after taking it 
lor granted that all the nailed slanders against Mr. 
Clay are established verities, is simply this : " Al- 
though," he says, " impartial men may believe, as I 
do myself, that there was no technical bargain en- 
tered into between Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay in their 
own proper persons, yet it does seem to me that no 
one, free from prejudice, can carefully examine the 
circumstances and evidences in tlie case, without 
the most thorough conviction that it was understood 
.by the parties that Mr. Clay's appointment to the 
office of Secretary of State would result from the 
election of Mr. Adams." Truly, a lame and impo- 
tent couclutiion ! Ab lame and impotent — if we may 



borrow an illustration applied to a different case — 
as it would be should some political adversary ac- 
cuse Mr. Boyd of murder, and, on being called on 
fur an explanation, should say : •' Although impar- 
tial men may believe, as I do myself, that there was 
no technical murder committed by Mr. Boyd in his 
own proper person, yet it doe.-? seem to me lliat he 
has made a slaughterous attempt upon the king's 
English." By his own admi.ssion Mr. Boyd fully 
exculpates Mr. Clay. 

'■ Sir," said Mr. Webster, in his speech of Janua- 
ry, 1830, on Mr. Foot's resolution, " this charge of a 
' coalition in reference to the late administration is 
' not original with the honorable member. It did 
'not spring up in the Senate. Whether as a fact, 
' as an argument, or as an embellishment, it is all 
' borrowed. He adopts it, indeed, from a very low 
' origin, and a still lower present condition. It is 
' one of the thousand calumnies with which the press 
' teemed during an e.xcited political canvass. It was 
' a charge, of which there was not only no proof or 
' probability, but which was, in itself, wholly inipos- 
' sible to be true. No man of common information 
' ever believed a syllable of it. Yet it was of that 
' class of falsehoods -which, by continued repetition, 
' through air the organs of detraction and abuse, are 
' capable of misleading those who are already far 
' mi.sled ; and of further fanning passions already kin- 
' died into flame. Doubtless it served in its day, and 
' in a greater or less degree, the end designed by it. 
' Having done that, it has sunk into the mass of stale 
' and loathsome calumnies. It is the very cast-off 
' slough of a polluted and shameless press. Incapa- 
' ble of further mischief, it lies in the sewer, lifeless 
' and despised. It is not now, sir, in the power of 
• the honorable member to give it dignity or decency, 
' by attempting to elevate it, and to introduce it into 
' the Senate. He cannot change it from what it is 
' — an object of general disgust and scorn. On the 
' contrary, the contact, if he choose to touch it, is 
' more likely to drag him down, down to the place 
' where it lies itself." 

In the autumn of 1844, an interesting communica- 
tion was made to the public by Mr. B. W. Leigh, 
of Virginia, on the subject of this old galvanized 
slander. For some twenty years the traducers of 
Mr. Clay in that State had made frequent mysterious 
allusions to a correspondence, the publication of 
which they loudly demanded. Mr. Clay's reluc- 
tance to consent to the publication, originating solely 
in motives of delicacy the mo.st honorable, was pub- 
licly attributed by those who well knew every syl- 
lable of that correspondence, to fears of exposure, 
and referred to as an admission of guilt. The very 
men who dreaded the publication, lest it should ex- 
pose the hollowness and insincerity of their accusa- 
tions, clamored for it in the reliance, which for many 
years proved not unfounded, that Mr. Clay would 
never consent to vindicate himself by the simple 
means which they defied him to adojtt. 

Some time during the summer of 1844, Mr. Clay 
sent copies of these letters, which iiis enemies made 
the basis of their vague and unprincipled charges, 
to Mr. Leigh; and, in giving tiicm to the world, 
that gentleman remarks: " If I am rightly informed, 
no application has ever been made directly to Mr. 
Clay by Mr. Blair or Mr. Linn Boyd, or by any 
other of that party, to couacut to the publication of 



Old Slavders Revived— Published Correspondence of Mr. Clay — The Election. 



8T 



these letters Overcome by tlie earnest eu- I 

treaties of bis friends in Virginia, Mr. Clay lias re- 
luctantly consented to the publication (if llicy think 
it proper) of these letters, private and confidential as 
they are, and even playful and sportive in their char- 
acter Knowing, as he must have known, 

that the publication could only be beneficial to him. 
lie has yet patiently endured all the calumnies which 
bave been founded on the letters. I now publish 
them, in order to put down, effectually and for ever, 
a vile charge, which has been revived after having 
been completely refuted, and which has been re- 
vived here in Virginia, in the hope that the letters, 
after so long a delay, would not be published." 

From one of these letters dated .TimuarySS, 182.5, 
we quote a few passages, to show that even in the 
informal fiecdom of familiar correspondence, Mr. 
Clay's objections to the elevation of a military chief 
tain, with pmely military claims, to the Chief Mag- 
istracy, would break forth with spoutancoua earnest- 
ness and force : 

* » * " The knaves cannot comprehend how a 
inan can be honest. They cannot conceive that I 
should have solcmnh/ intcrrog^ited my conscience, 
and asked it to tell me seriously what I ought to do ! 
— that it should have enjoined me not to establish 
the dangerous precedent of elcvuiina:, in tliix carJi/ 
sta^e of the republic, a miiitary chieftain merely 'ue- 
cause he has iron a great victory ! I am afraid that 
you will think me moved by these abuses. Be not 
deceived. I assure you that I never, in my whole 
life, felt more perlect composure, more entire confi- 
dence in the resolutions of my judgment, and a moie 
imshaken determination to march up to my duty. 
And, my dear sir, is there an intelligent and unbi- 
ased man, who must not, Svooner or later, concur with 
me? Mr. Adams, you know well, I should never 
have selected, if at liberty to draw from the whole 
mass of our citizens for a President. But there is 
no danger in his elevation now or in time to come. 
Not so of his competitor, of wliom I cannot believe 
that killing tweaty-five hundred Englishmen at New 
Orleans qualifies* him for the various, diificult, and 
complicated duties of the Chief Magistracy. I per- 
ceive that I am unconsciously writing a tort of de- 
fence, which you may probably think implies guilt. 
' What will be the result?' you will ask with curi- 
osity, if not anxiety. I think Mr. Adams must be 
elected ; such is the prevailing opinion. Still I shall 
not con.sider the matter as certain, until the election 
is over." 

In a card, which bears date the 3d of May, 1844, 
General Jackson reailirmed the charge of " bargain 
and corruption" in a manner which showed that age 
had not blunted the vindictive asperities of bis na- 
ture. General James Hamilton, in a latter growing 
out of this card, dated the 26ih of the same month, 
remarks : " It would, in my humble opinion, have 
been an act of supererogation on the part of Mr. 
Clay to have made a bargain for what, by the force 
tnd gravity of political causes and geographical con- 
siderations, was inevitable without either his crime 
or his participation — an offer of a seat in Mr. Ad- 
ams's cabinet I sincerely believe that Mr. 

Clay's acceptance of tbe office that subjected him 
to such obloquy was the result of a sense of the duty 
which he owed to the country, to aid by his counsels 
him whom he had assisted to place in power." 

The pertinacious industry with which this putrid 
ralnmny baa been raked up by political cJtiJfoniers 
from tlie kennel where it has been repeatedly cast, 
"like a dead dog despised," can only be accounted 



for by the fact that Mr. Clay's whole career, public 
and private, will bear the strictest scrutiny of honor 
and paii-iotism. lie was never one of those accom- 
modating statesmen, who. starting with the assump- 
tion that •' all is fair in politics," liave one conncience 
for their public and another for their private acts; 
who look ujion deceptions and intrigues that would 
be contemptible in the man of bu.siness or of society 
as very venial in the politician. In the lack of other 
points, therefore, for, attack in his public history, this 
miserable suspicion— for, in its most specious state, 
the slander could never rise above the dignity of a 
suspicion— was selected as the one vulnerable spot. 
It has been truly remarked that " there is no ex- 
ample in the records of detraction and calumny of 
such persevering, rancorou.s, and malignant attacks, 
as those which have been constantly directed against 
Mr. Clay during the last twenty years, because of 
the fact that he did not deem it his duty, acting ei- 
ther upon his own judgment or in conformity with 
the wishes of his constituents, whom he represented 
in the House of Representatives, to cast his vote for 
General Jackson as President of the United States." 
Nor were these attacks confined to his public char- 
acter and life. The domestic fireside was invaded. 
The social circle was not held sacred. Mr. Clay 
was denounced as a gambler, a sabbath breaker, 
and a profane swearer. Stories the most unfound- 
ed, charges the most imaginary, were busily circu- 
lated by the Opposition, in newspapers and pamph- 
lets, holding him up as a man to be distrusted by the 
religious portion of the community. It is unneces- 
sary to recapitulate and refute these libels. They 
served their purpose, doubtless; and any exposure 
of their utter falsehood, however thorough and irre- 
sistible it might be, would not prevent their revival, 
whenever it might answer the ends of the profligate 
and the designing to give them currency. " False- 
hood," said Mr. Clayton, of Delaware, in a speech 
delivered some six weeks before the presidential 
election — " falsehood is now the order of the day. 
Perhaps the world never before exhibited more dis- 
graceful spectacles of reckless mendacity for politi- 
cal purposes."* 

Mr. Clay's professional labors were not interrupt- 
ed in consequence of his nomination. Soon after his 
return to Kentucky be engaged in an important law 
case, in which he displayed as much zeal and watch- 
fulness in behalf of the interests of his client as if he 
had just entered upon the practice of the law, and 
was struggling to gain his first suit. 

But now the eventful riloment that was to influ- 
ence the fate of the country for years— perhaps for 
centuries— was at hand. Never before were vast 
bodies of the American people so intensely interest- 
} ed in a political result as in that of the presidential 
election of November, 1844. It came at last, and 
with crushing effect, to thousands and hundreds of 
thousands, who had hoped and wished well for the 

* While we write, one of the newspapers of the day 
falls under our eye. containinc: the foUowins paragraph : 

"A Locofoco paper says Henry Clay will bi; thi' Whig 
candidate for President (in 1848), and very honestly adds, 
' All the old lies will of course be revamped." To be sure 
they will ! Mr. Clay has had the misfortune to be had 
about more than any other public man living : and if he 
should be nominated caain for office, nothing less can be 
expected than that the old lies will be brought outagaii^ 
with as many new ones added as Locotoco mgenuity and 
villony can invent." 



88 



Life of Henry Clay. 



republic. Ilr. Claywas defeated— but defeated un- 
der cirnuinstances far less mortifying to him than 
snch a triumph as that achieved by his opponent, 
Mr. Polk, would have been. He was defeated by 
the grossest and most reckless frauds that were ever 
perpetrated by the practical enemies of republican 
liberty. These frauds were alone sufficient to pre- 
vent the true verdict of the people from being ren- 
dered ; but, conjoiued with other impositions, they 
lead us irresistibly to the conclusion that, could an 
honest expression of the public will have been ob- 
tained, it would have been in favor of Mr. Clay by 
a vast preponderance, not only of the intelligence, 
but of the legal voters of the country. Indeed, had 
the illegal votes that were polled in the State of 
New-York alone been cast aside, Mr. Clay would 
have been the President of the United States. We 
shall have more to say hereafter of the means by 
which the legitimate expression of the popular will 
was rendered null and void. 

The efiect of this great defeat upon the Whig 
party was disheartening in the extreme. You would 
have thought some stupendous public calamity had 
occurred, to have seen the signs of deep, sincere 
grief written upon the majority of honest, intelligent 
faces. Manifestations of sorrow and of attachment 
the most touching were offered to Mr. Clay. A pro- 
found sigh seemed to be wrung from the nation's 
heart. Tears, such as Cato might have wept, were 
shed from manly eyes ; and many of its truest friends 
began to despair of the republic. Innumerable were 
the letters from all parts of the countrj', filled with 
patriotic regrets, that found their way to Ashland. 
Most of these were from personal strangers ; some 
from acquaintances. 

" I have sustained many severe losses of dear 
friends," writes one ; " but nothing has hurt me like 
this. Oh, God ! is there no constitutional provision 
by which illegal votes can be purged out, and the 
legally-elected President restored to this nation ?" 

" I have thought for tliree or four days," &ays an- 
other correspondent, •' that I would write you ; but, 
really, I am unmanned. All is gone ! I see noth- 
ing but despair depicted in every countenance. I 
confess that nothing has happened to shake my con- 
fidence in our ability to sustain a free government so 
much as this. A cloud of gloom hangs over the fu- 
ture. May God save the country!" 

Another writes : " What a wound has been in- 
flicted upon the honor and interests of the country ! 
I pray God that truth may yet prevail, and our re- 
publican institutions be saved." 

" I write with an aching heart," is the language 
of another letter, " and ache it must. God Almighty 
eave us ! Although our hearts are broken and bleed- 
ing, and our bright hopes are crushed, we feel proud 
of our candidate. God bless you ! Your country- 
men do bless you. All know how to appreciate the 
man who has stood in the first rank of American pa- 
triots. Though unknown to you, you are by no 
means a stranger to me." 

An American in London writes, under date of 
November 27, 1844 : " I will not lose a moment in 
conveying to you the heartfelt emotion, amazement, 
and grief, with which I received the news, just ar- 
rived, of tiie result of the presidential election. Great 
God ! is it possible ? Have our people given this 



which party frenzy can carry them ? The hopes 
of the wise and the good, in the New and the Old 
World, rested upon you. But my heart is sick. May 
God for ever bless you !" 

These extracts wilP convey to the future reader 
but a feeble impres.yon of that general feeling of 
chagrin and despondency which was manifested 
throughout the United States at the result of the 
election of 1844. It was not a feeling, the offspring 
of selfish disappointment, of wounded pride, or de- 
feated partizanship ; but one arising from regrets 
the most purely patriotic and disinterested that our 
fallible nature can cherish — regrets springing from 
the most devoted love of country, the most single- 
hearted attachment to our system of government, 
the most entire faith in the goodness and worth of 
republican liberty. Letters without number from 
the mothers and daughters of the land were also ad- 
dressed to Mr. Clay, indicative of the widespread 
affliction which had been produced by his defeat. 
Numerous testimonials of the unabated affection and 
admiration with which he w-as regarded were pre- 
sented. The ladies of Virginia held meetings and 
formed an association, at the head of which was Mrs- 
Lucy Barbour, for procuring by voluntary subscrip- 
tions a statue to his honor. Their efforts were 
crowned with the most prompt and complete suc- 
cess. Addres.ses from large bodies of his fellow^ citi- 
zens in every State of the Union bore to him the 
fullest assurance that he was still first in their es- 
teem, and that the untoward result of the contest had 
not affected their convictions of the fact that a large 
majority of the legal voters of the United States were 
in favor of him and his policy. 

The presidential electors of Kentucky, having dis- 
charged the duty intrusted to them by the people, 
determined, before separating, to wait upon Mr. 
Clay in a body, and tender him a declaration of 
their high esteem for him as a private citizen, and 
their undiminished confidence in his exalted patri- 
otism and superior statesmanship. No public no- 
tice had been given of their intention to visit Ash- 
land, and Mr. Clay himself was not made acquaint- 
ed with it until a few hours before their arrival. He 
met them at his door, and, after an exchange of greet- 
ings. Judge Underwood, on behalf of the electors, 
addressed him in a brief and eloquent speech, to 
which Mr. Clay responded. Both the address and 
the reply possess such intrinsic and enduring inter- 
est, that w^e copy them entire : 

" Mr. Clay — I have been .selected by the mem- 
bers of our electoral college to say to you, for each 
one of us, that we have come to offer you the hom- 
age of our personal regard and profound re.?pect. 
In this work of the heart, many of your neighbors 
have likewise come to unite with us. On yester- 
day, at Frankfort, we performed our official duty in 
obedience to the will of the people of Kentucky, by 
voting unanimously for yourself and Theodore Fre- 
linghuysen to fill the offices of President and Vice- 
President of the United States. 

" The machinations of your enemies, their frauds 
upon the elective franchise, and their duplicity with 
the people, in i)romulgating opposite principles in 
different sections, have defeated your election. 

" We have no iiope of preferment at your hands, 
which can tempt us to flatter, nor can the pen of 
proscription intimidate as in speaking the truth. Un- 
der existing circumstances it gratifies us to take you 
by the hand, and to unite, as we do mo.st cordially. 



astonishing, this alarming proof, of the madness to I iu expressing the sentiments of our heartB and of 



Visit and Address of the Kentucky Electors to Mr, Clay — His Reply. 



8& 



those we represent in rcgiird to your personal char- 
acter nud political principles. 

" Your past services are kg interwoven with the 
history of our country for the lant forty years, lliat 
malice and envy cannot prevent succrcdini? trenera- 
tions from dweUin;? on your name wilii admiration 
and gratitude. Your example will illuminate the 
path of future statesmen, when tho.se who hate and 
revile you are forgotten, or are only remembered, 
like the incendiary who burnt the temple, for the 
evil they have done. 

'• To you the election hxi terminated without per- 
sonal loss ; but to the nation, in our judgment, the in- 
jury is incalclllabl(^ God grant that the Confedera- 
cy may not hereafter mourg over the result in dis- 
membered fragments ! 

" While yovir enemies have not attempted to de- 
tract from your intellectual character, they have with 
untiring malice attacked your moral reputation and 
endeavored to destroy it. The verbal slanders and 
printed libels employed as means to accomplish po- 
litical objects, have stained the character of our 
country and its institutions more than they have in- 
jured yours. 

" In your high personal character, in your political 
principles, and unrivalled zeal and ability to carry 
them out, may be found the strong motives for our 
anxious efforts to secure your election. The protec- 
tion of American labor, a national currency connect- 
ed with a fiscal agent for the government, the distri- 
bution among the States of the proceeds of the pub- 
lic lands, further constitutional restrictions upon ex- 
ecutive power and patronage, and a limitation upon 
the eligibility of the President for a second term, 
were measures which, under your administration, we 
hoped to mature and bring into practical operation. 
By your defeat they have been endangered, if not 
for ever lost. 

"But we will not speculate on coming events. If 
things work well, we shall find consolation in the 
general prosperity. If apprehended evils come* we 
are not responsible ; and, retaining our principles, we 
shall enjoy the happy reflection of having done our 
duty. 

" In the shades of Ashland may you long continue 
to enjoy peace, quiet, and the possession of those 
great faculties which have rendered you the admi- 
ration of your friends and the benefactor of your 
country. And when at last death shall demand its 
victim, while Kentucky will contain your ashes, rest 
assured that old and faithful friends — those who 
knowing you longest, loved you best — will cherish 
your memory and defend your reputation." 

The reply of Mr. Clay, as it appears in the Lex- 
ington Observer of December 10, 1844, was as fol- 
lows : 

" I am greatly obliged, gentlemen, by the kindness 
toward me, which has prompted this visit from the 
Governor, the presidential electors of Kentucky, and 
some of my fellow-citizens in private life. And I 
thank you, sir (Mr. Underwood), their organ on this 
occasion, for the feeling and eloquent address which 
you have just done me the honor to deliver. I am 
under the greatest obligations to the people of Ken- 
tucky. During more than forty years of my life 
they have demonstrated their confidence and attec- 
tion toward me in every variety of form. This last 
and crowning evidence of their long and faithful at- 
tachment, exhibited in the vote which, in their behalf, 
you gave yesterday at the seat of the state govern- 
ment, as the electoral college of Kentucky .fills me with 
overflowing gratitude. But I should fail to express 
the feelings of my heart if I did not also ofier my 
profound and grateful acknowledgments to the other 
States which have united with Kentucky in the en- 
deavor to elect me to the Chief Magistracy of the 
Union, and to the million and a quarter of freemen, 
embracing so much virtue, intelligence, and patriot- 
ism, who, wherever residing, have directed strenu- 
ous and enthusiastic exertions to the same object. 



" Their effort has been unavailing, and the i.ssoe 
of the election has not corresponded with their anx- 
ious hopes and conlident expectations. You have, 
sir, assigned some of the cau.ses which you supposo 
have occasioned the result. I will not trust myselT 
to speak of them. My duty is that of poifijct sub- 
mission to an event which is now irrevocable. 

" I will not all'ect inditrerence to the per.sonal con- 
cern I had iii the political contest just terminated ; 
but, unless I am greatly self di>coived, the principal 
attraction to me of the ollico of President of the Uni- 
ted Stales arose out of the cherished hope that I 
might be an humble instrum<;iit in the hands of 
Providence to accomplish public good. 1 desired 
to see the former purity of the General Government 
restored, and to see dangers and evils which I sincere- 
ly believed enconipas.sed it averted and remedied. I 
was anxious that the policy of the country, espe- 
cially in the great department of ilomestic labor and 
industry, should be fixed and stable, that all might 
know how to regulate and acconmiodale their con- 
duct. And, fully convinced of the wisdom of the 
public measures which you have enumerated, I 
hoped to live to witness, and to contribute to, their 
adoption and establishment. 

" So far as respects auy official agency of mine, it 
has been otherwise decreed, and I bow respectfully 
to the decree. The future course of the Government 
is altogether unknown, and wrapped in painful un- 
certainty. I shall not do the new Administration the 
injustice of condemning it in advance. On the con- 
trary, I earnestly desire that, enlightened by its own 
reflections, and by a deliberate review of all the 
great interests of the country, and prompted by pub- 
lic opinion, the benefit may yet be secured of the 
practical execution of tho.se principles and measures 
for which we have honestly contended ; that peace 
and honor may be preserved ; and that this young- 
but great nation may be rendered harmonious, pros- 
perous, and powerful. 

" We are not without consolations under the event 
which has happened. The Whig party has fully 
and fairly exhibited to the country the principles and 
measures which it believed best adapted to secure 
our liberties and promote the common welfare. It 
has made, in their support, constant and urgent ap- 
peals to the reason and judgment of the people. For 
myself 1 have the satisfaction to know that I have 
escaped a great and fearful responsibility ; and that, 
during the whole canvass, I have done nothing in- 
consistent with the dictates of the purest honor. No 
mortal man is authorized to say that I held out to 
him the promise of any office or appointment what- 
ever. 

" What now is the duty of the Whig party ? I 
venture to express an opinion with the greatest dif- 
fidence. The future is enveloped iu a veil impene- 
trable by human eyes. I cannot contemplate it with- 
out feelings of great discouragement. But I know of 
only one safe rule in all the vicissitudes of human life, 
public and private, and that is, conscientiously to 
satisfy ourselves of what is right, and firmly and nn- 
deviatingly to pursue it under all trials and circum- 
stances, confiding in the Great Ruler of the Universe 
for ultimate success. The Whigs are deliberately 
convinced of the truth and wisdom of the principles 
and measures which they have espoused. It seems, 
therefore, to me that they should persevere in con- 
tending for them ; and that, adhering to their sepa- 
rate and distinct organization, they should treat all 
who have the good of their country in view with 
respect and sympathy, and invite their co-operation 
in securing the patriotic objects which it has been 
their aim and purpose to accomplish. 

" I heartily thank you, sir, for your friendly wishes 
for my happiness, in the retirement which hencefor- 
ward best becomes me. Here I hope to enjoy peace 
and tranquillity, seeking faithfully to perform, in the 
walks of private life, whatever duties may yet ap- 
pertain to me. And I shall never cease, while life 
remains, to look, with lively interest and deep solici- 



90 



tade, upon the movement and operations of our free 
Byetem of government, and to hope that, ander the 
emiles of an AH wise Providence, oui' republic may 
be ever just, honorable, prosperous, and great." 
• We learn from an eye-witness that the scene, du- 
ring the delivery of these remarlt.s, was at once pain- 
ful and inlere.sting. While Mr. Clay was expres- 
sing his grateful regards fur liis friends, who. had 
stood up to shield him from the malignant calumnies 
of his enemies, and the patriotic hope that the result 
of the election, in the hands of an All-wise Provi- 
dence, might be overruled for good to the country, 
every eye was suffused with manly tears. The old 
men, wlio had known him in his earlier career, and 
Lad seen him come forth unharmed from amid the 
arrows of calumny and detraction which had been 
tinsparingly aimed at him, and the unceasing though 
puerile efibrts which had been made to arrest his 
progress— the young men, who had been taught in 
infancy to lisp his name, and to revere him as his 
country's benefactor— wept together. " During Mr. 
Clay's remarks we occupied a position immediately 
in front of him ; and as we watched his expressive 
countenance, and saw the deep emotion which at 
times almost overpowered him, and well nigh choked 
his utterance as he gave expression to the sentiments 
which have ever filled his bosom to the exclusion of 
every selfish feeling, we felt a conviction of his great- 
ness, which, with all our former admiration of the 
man, we had never before realized." 

The following was the numerical result of the elec- 
tion of 1844 : For Clay- Massacliusetts, 12 ; Rhode 
Island, 4 ; Connecticut, 6 ; Vermont, 6 ; New-Jersey, 
7 ; Delaware, 3 ; Maryland. 8 ; North Carolina, 11 '; 
Tennessee, 13 ; Kentucky, 12 ; Ohio, 23.— Total, 105.' 
For Polk— Maine, 9 ; New-Hampshire, 6 ; New- 
York, 36; Pennsylvania, 26; Virginia, 17; South 
Carolina, 9 ; Georgia, 10; Alabama, 9; Mississippi, 6; 
Louisiana, 6 ; Indiana, 12 ; Illinois, 9 ; Missouri, 6 ;' 
Michigan, 5 ; Arkansas, 3.— Total, 170. 

The official popular vote showed for Clay, 1,297 - 
912 ; for Polk, 1,330,196 ; for Birney. the candTdatL 
of the " Liberty party" (sad misnomer !) as they called 
themselves, 62,127. Mr. Polk's majority over Mr. 
Clay, exclusive of South Carolina, where the presi- 
dential electors were chosen by the Legislature, was 
38,284. If to this be added 20,000 as the majority 
of Mr. Polk in South Carolina, his aggregate majori- 
ty over Mr. Clay was 56,284. Place the Birney vote 
(62,127) by the side of this, and it will be seen that 
Mr. Polk did tiot receive the votes of a majority of 
ike people. Mr. Clay received more votes by upward 
of twenty thousand than General Harrison, with all 
his popularity and the immense efibrts of the Whigs, 
received in 1 840. Take into the account the large 
abstraction from the Whig ranks in the State of 
New- York by Birney, the alienations produced by 
the " Native" party, and other causes, to which we 
shall more particularly allude, and it will be seen 
that the Whigs had abundant cause to confide in 
the strength of their candidate with the people, and 
to feel assured that but for the frauds, treacheries, 
aad deceits, that were practised, their triumph would 
iave been as complete as their cause was just. 



Life of Henry Clay. 



CHAPTER XXIIL 

How the Whi-s were defeated-The Foreign Vote-Na- 
tive Amer.can>.m-Thc Liberty Party and Mr Ke^ 

pr^orl^i^a^,::;ei^^;r^L^^-^--p«- 

The causes qS: the defeat of the Whigs in the pres- 
idential election of 1844 can be distinctly traced with- 
out the aid of hypothesis and speculation. Foremost 
among them we may cite the foreign influence— 
which, operatmg principally in the State of New- 
York, was also powerfully felt in Penn.sylvania and 
other States. Early in the canvass, Mr. Brownson 
a recent convert to the Roman Catholic religion the 
\ editor of a Quarterly Review published in Bo.ston, 
and a writer of no mean abilities, gave the key-note 
for misrepresentations, which were eclioed, with 
mo.st malignant efiect, from Maine to Louisiana. Of 
Mr. Frelinghuygen he wrote in the following terms : 
" Mr. Fre]inghuy.sen is not only a Whig in the 
' worst sense of the term, but he is also the very im- 
' personation of narrow-minded, ignorant, conceited 
' bigotry— a man who boldly attacks religious liber- 
' ty, demands the unhallowed union of church and 
' state, and contends that the Government should le- 
' gaily recognize the religion of the majority, and de- 
' Clare whatever goes counter to that to be contra 
' honos mores. He concentrates in himself the whole 
' spirit of ' Native Americanism' and ' No Popery,' 
' which displayed itself so brilliantly in the recent 
' burnings of the Catholic dwellings, seminaries, and 
' churches, in the city of Philadelphia." 

Invectives like this, false and flagrant, carried 
with them still some specionsness. Mr. Frelinghuy. 
sen was well understood to be identified with a sect 
more earnest, perhaps, than any other in their de- 
nunciations of popety and its dangers. We all know 
the potency of religious prejudices, and how high 
above mere secular interests a believer will place 
the interests of the church. The Roman Catholics, 
embracing probably nearly nine tenths of our adopt' 
ed citizens and foreign immigrants, were jealously 
ahve to suspicions and apprehensions such as Mr. 
Brownson and others, who had their confidence," 
saw fit to instil. The recollection of General Harri- 
son's death a month after his installation, and the con- 
sequent elevation of the Vice-President to his seat, 
were fresh in everybody's mind. " Why may not 
Mr. Frelinghuysen become your President, and, in 
his Presbyterian zeal, burn your churches and drive 
away your priests ?" was the question asked of thou- 
sands of foreigners, legal and illegal voters, with ir- 
resistible effect. 

A Native American party, too, had suddenly sprung 
into consequence about this time. The assiduous at- 
tempts of the Locofocos to secure by any means, 
however disorganizing, the foreign vote— the repeat- 
ed frauds perpetrated by foreigners, falsely claiming 
to be natui-alized, at the polls— the gregarious and 
anti-American attitude assumed by bodies of them,' 
here and there— the consideration that hordes of im- 
migrants, utterly ignorant of our political .system, its 
workings, and its wants, unable perhaps even to read 
and write, had it in their power, after a brief resi- 
dence, to vote, while the intelligent American, with 
sympathies all awake to hi.s country's interests, well 
versed in her history, and having a deep stake in her 
welfare, but who had not passed the age of twenty. 



r/ie Foreign Vote — Native .Americanism — The Liberty Party— False Issues. 



91 



was debarred from the same privilege — facts and 
considerations like these had produced a powerful 
reaciion in the minds of .native citizens ; and, in the 
States of New-York and Pennsylvania, had given 
rise to a party, undisciplined, badly organized, and 
deficient in influential leaders, but exercising great 
capacities of mischief All the odium produced in 
the minds of adopted citizens and foreign illegal vo- 
ters by the acts and denunciations of tliis party was 
transferred, most unjustlj', to the Whigs and Mr. 
Clay, while at the same time no measure of support 
was rendered to them by the new organization. Mr. 
Clay had never identified himself in anj- degree with 
the principles of this party. His course toward for- 
eigners and adopted citizens had always been one 
of extreme liberality. The Irish and Germans had 
always found in him a ready champion and a true 
friend. In his speeches in regard to the recognition 
of South American independence he had manifested 
a spirit the most magnanimous and tolerant toward 
the professors of the Roman Catholic belief; and yet 
now, through the insidious raanoguvres of his oppo- 
nents, were all the errors and all the prospective 
acts, threatened and imaginary, of " Nativism," con- 
verted to his injury ! 

The apprehension was studiously inculcated by 
the partizans of Mr. Polk, that the success of this 
faction was involved in that of Mr. Clay ; that the 
consequence would be an immediate abolition or i 
modification of the naturalization laws, greatly re- 
Btricting the facilities of aliens for becoming voters. 
This apprehension had its effect even upon goodly 
numbers of adopted citizens, who had heretofore 
voted the Whig ticket. It also precipitated the nat- I 
nralizing of thousands with the express purpo.se of 
opposing Nativism, and sent other thousands to the 
polls whose votes w^ere in direct violation of the ' 
laws of the land. On a banner borne by the Irish 
of the sixth ward in the city of New- York, at one 
of their musters previous to the election, was the in- 
scription, " Americans sha'n't rule us !" 

These facts, it may be said, prove that a reform in 
our naturalization laws is much needed. On thi.s 
subject we concur in the views of Mr. Webster, who 
declared that the preservation of the Government, 
and consequently the interests of all parties, clearly 
and strongly demand a thorough reformation of these 
laws. But in regard to the question of remedying 
the evil, Mr. Clay and the Whig party stood, and 
continue to stand, no more committed than their op- 
ponents. The Native American faction was com- 
posed of members of both parties ; and the attempt 
to make the Whigs responsible for their crude pol- 
icy, tbeir abortive intrigues, and their spasmodic 
movements, was the basest injustice, while at the 
same time it was but too effectual in spreading alarm 
and misconception among car foreign population. 
Everywhere pains were taken by the opposite party 
to produce the impression that the Whig and Native 
American parties were identical. 

Another obvious cause of the disastrous result of 
the election was the conduct of the Abolition or Lib- 
erty party, which derived nine tenths of its strength 
from the Whig ranks. There was a time when 
Mr. James G. Birney might have secured the elec- 
tion of Mr. Clay, and prevented the long train of 
predicted calamities and crimes, accompanied by 
bloodshed and affliction, which succeeded the an- 



nexation of Texas. But Mr. Birney, the friend of 
'• liberty" and enemy of annexation, after coyly play- 
ing fast and loo.se with both parties, threw hi.s influ- 
ence into the .scale for Mr. Polk, and accepted a nom- 
ination for the Presidency, with the undenicd object 
of aiming a blow at the Whig.'). 

Itseemed tobebyafatal perversity that while atthe 
north Mr. Clay was represented as an ultra supporter 
of the institution of slavery, at the south he should be 
described as an abolitionist; although, to use his own 
language, lie was " neither one nor the other." In a 
private letter, which was purloined and published, 
bearing date September 18lh, 1844. and addressed to 
Cassius M. Clay, he says : " As we have the same 
surname, and are, moreover, related, great use is 
made at the south against me, of whatever falls from 
you. There, you are even represented as being my 
son ; hence the necessity of the greatest circumspec- 
tion, and especially that you avoid committing me. 
You are watched wherever you go. and every word 
you publicly express will be tortured and perverted 
as my own are. After all, I am afraid you are too 
sanguine in supposing that any considerable num- 
ber of the Liberty men can be induced to support 
me." The event proved that Mr. Clay's sagacity 
was not at fault in this apprehension. We have al- 
ready shown that the Whig votes thrown away up- 
on Mr. Birney were more than sufficient to have 
prevented the election of Mr. Polk. There is a class 
of impracticable theorists who, while they are ready 
enough to claim and to partake all the benefits of our 
confederate system of government, would yet tram- 
ple upon those principles of compromise on which it 
was established and must rest. There is some con- 
sistency in the conduct of the disorganizers who ad- 
vocate the dissolution of this noble confederacy be- 
cause they cannot at once remould to their taste the 
character of our people and our institutions ; but the 
men who profess a love of the Union and a desire 
for its perpetuity, and at the same time pursue a 
course practically fatal to its honor and its interests, 
because their own political ideal is unattainable, are 
the most dangerous foes of the republic. It was by 
the recreancy of such men, professing Whig princi- 
ples, and following Locofoco practice, that Mr. Clay's 
elevation to the Presidency was prevented. Alas ! 
they cannot give us back the gallant lives and the 
untarnished honor which their error has cost the 
country. 

Calumny did its worst in regard to the private 
and public character of Mr. Clay, as we have al- 
ready seen ;* but the political duplicity resorted to 
by the partizans of Mr. Polk was productive of far 
greater mischief Everywhere at the south, Mr. 
Polk's claims were based upon the ground of his op- 
position to a protective Tariff, and his pledges in fa- 
vor of the immediate annexation of Texas. At the 
north he was represented as a better friend to the 
Tariff than Mr. Clay ; while the issue of annexation 
was repudiated wherever its unpopularity rendered 
such a course expedient. Silas Wright, a decided 
opponent of the Te.xas project in the Senate of the 
United States, was made the Locofoco candidate for 

* The course of the AVhi^s toward Mr. Polk presented 
a most remarkable contrast to that practised by their op- 
ponents toward Mr. Clay. The pubUc acta of the former 
were alone criticised and canvassed. There v/aa no at- 
tempt to hunt up small personalities and scurrilous alan- 
dera against him. 



92 



Life of Henry Clay. 



Governor in New-York, by which the people were 
blinded, and the friends and enemies of annexation 
in the party driven to unite in support of Mr. Polk. 
Thus, while annexation was the party cry in some 
.sections, and, in fact, the great qnestion of the elec- 
tion, care was taken to disclaim it so far in other 
fieclions that the people should be utterly deceived 
as to the imminence of the measure. 

In the resolutions of the Convention which nomi- 
nated Mr. Polk, there was no allusion, save a very 
eciuivocal one, to the Tariff. This simply declared 
that "justice and sound policy forbid the Federal 
Government to foster one branch of industry to the 
detriment of another, or to cherish the interests of 
one portion to the injury of another portion of our 
common country" — one of those axiomatic declara- 
tions, which, it is obvious, any party might safely 
adopt. The example of disingenuousness thus given 
at the Convention was faitlifully copied and improved 
upon by political managers everywhere. At the 
south, the declaration was made to mean everything ; 
at the north, nothing. Mr. Polk was quoted as the 
most strenuous free-trade philosopher in one place, 
while in another he was depicted on banners and in 
wood-cuts, surrounded by emblems of domestic in- 
dustry, and extending a most paternal measure of 
protection to American products and manufactures. 
In the slaveholding States, he ^vas represented as 
the enemy of all tariffs ; while, in the wool-growing 
and manufacturing States, it was promised that he 
would favor tlie protective policy, and, if he did not 
extend still more protection to domestic industry, 
would at least leave the existing Tariff untouched. 
The success of these contrary manoeuvres fully an- 
swered the expectations of their authors. In Penn- 
sylvania they were especially effectual in deceiving 
the people. Mr. Polk received large majorities in 
counties the most extensively oppcsed to any dis- 
turbance of the Tariff. Indeed, throughout the 
States of Pennsylvania,* New- York, and New^-Jer- 
eey, wherever the majority was supposed to be fa- 
vorable to the policy, the Locofoco banner bore the 
inscription of " Protection." By such acts of chi- 
canery were the people swindled out of their votes I 

The great and sufficient cause, however, of the 
defeat of Mr. Clay, were the gross, the undeniable 
frauds practised by agents of the opposite party at 
the polls. We have spoken of the assiduous attempts 
made to excite the alarm and the prejudices of for- 
eigners against the Whigs. The effect was to en- 
list them almost to a man in opposition to Mr. Clay. 



* When certain documents, proving Mr. Polk's opposi- 
tion to the Tarift' of 1842, were about being circulated in 
Pennsylvania, the Lycoming Gazette of October 19, 1844, 
published at Williamsport, Lyconiiug county, denounced 
them in thene terms : •' Burn the vile slanders, the prod- 
uct of British gold. Warn your neighbors of the imposi- 
tion ; and, when the clay of election arrives, teach these 
liirelings that the Democracy of Lycoming are too intel- 
ligent to be gulled, and too independent to be bought. 
By voting for Junie.') K. Polk and (ieorge M. Dallas, you 
oppose the creation of another national bank, and insu7e 
the continuance of the present Tariff." Mr. Polk himself 
set a most anti-democnUie example of disingenuousness. 
When waited upon shortly beforf the eleclion, by a com- 
mittee, who wished tci know whether he was in favor of 
modifying the Tarili', lie declined making any reply. In 
a letter dated June 11), 1H44, to J. K. Kane, of Philadel- 
phia, he hud lavored the opinion that he was, in the words 
of the Hnrrisburg Union (Locofoco), "in favor of a judi- 
cious revenue Taritl", nfl'ording the amplest incidental pro- 
tection to American industry." 



The month before the presidential election there was 
an election for Governor and other State officers in 
Maryland. The result in the city of Baltimore 
showed an increase of votes far beyond any previ- 
ons ratio. Within a few weeks of the election not 
fewer than a thousand naturalization papers had 
been issued. And it was ascertained that not over 
forty of the whole number of persons for whom they 
were procured would vote the Whig ticket ! Sev- 
eral convictions for frauds upon the ballot-box took 
place in the courts, all the culprits being of one po- 
litical complexion. A poor woman confessed that 
she had loaned the naturalization papers of her de- 
ceased husband to seventeen different persons, re- 
ceiving a dollar in every instance for the use of 
them. Here were seventeen fraudulent votes ac- 
counted for ! What a farce seems the elective fran- 
chise where such profanations of the freeman's right 
can be practised — by persons, too, just landed on 
our shores, having no stake in our institutions, no 
patriotic associations with the past history of the 
country, no knowledge of our public men and pub- 
lic interests, and hardly able to explain the differ- 
ence between a monarchical and republican form of 
government ! 

A salutary restraint was put upon these fraudu- 
lent voters by the conviction and punishment of a 
few of the offenders ; and there was con.sequently 
the remarkable falling off of 722 votes in the Loco- 
foco vote at the municipal election, which immedi- 
ately followed, while the W^hig vote exhibited a 
diminution of only three. The Whig vote at the 
gubernatorial election was 7,968 ; the Locofoco vote, 
9,190: the latter showing an increase of 1,892 over 
the election for mayor of the preceding year, when 
the largest vote ever thrown was polled, while the 
Whig increase was only 368 ! 

In Pennsylvania there were evidences of fraud 
no less conclusive. At Pittsburg, after the presiden- 
tial election, twenty-four bills of indictment for per- 
jury and subornation of perjury in taking out natu- 
ralization papers, to be used for the benefit of Mr, 
Polk, were found. There were twenty-five prose- 
cutions, in only one of which was there deficiency 
of proofs. A number of counties polled more votes 
than they contained male inhabitants according to 
the census of 1840. If that census was correct. Pike 
county had but 848 male inhabitants : it polled 920 
votes ; Monroe county, with 2,034, polled 2,220 ; Ti- 
oga, with 3,342, polled 3,367; Perry, with 3,500, 
polled 3,671; Columbia, with 5,033, polled 5,108; 
and Potter, with 732, polled 794 vote.s. It is a little 
remarkable that in no one of the strong W^hig coun- 
ties of the State, was any such ratio of increase ex- 
hibited. This marvellous multiplication of voters ex- 
cited naturally no little surprise ; for it seemed quite 
unaccountable that in some of the Locofoco counties 
there should be more voters than adult males, while 
in all the Whig counties the reverse should be inva- 
riably the case I 

In Georgia, from the tax-list and the census, it was 
estimated that the number of legal voters at the elec- 
tion of 1844 was 78,611. What was the re.sult? The 
number of votes cast was 66,217, leaving 7,636 which 
can only be accounted for by the supposition of fraud. 
An examination of details will show that this pre- 
sumptive unlawful increase is, in every instance, on 
the side of the Locofocos. The lawful vote of For- 



stupendous Frauds upon the Elective Franchise — Scene in Neic-York — Registry Law. 93 



eyth, Lumpkin, Habersham, and Franklin counties, 
was estimated at 3,202 ; but they actually returned 
1,821 for Clay and 4,014 for Polk— in all, 5,8:;.'') ! In 
the four Whig counties of Madison, Elbert, Lincoln, 
and Columbia, the lawful vote was 3,10,') : the votes 
returned were 3,123— of which Clay received 2,121, 
and Polk 999. The Locofocos directed all their ef- 
forta to throwing an overwhelming vote in those 
counties where they already had the ascendency. 
Elbert, the strongest Whig. county in the State, gave 
five votes less than it was entitled to, according to 
the estimate to which we have referred. 

The total vote of Louisiana in the exciting con- 
test of 1840 was 18,912. In that of 1844 it was 2C,- 
295 ! The frauds here were monstrous and palpa- 
ble. In the single parit-h of Plaquemines, the vote 
for Mr. Polk exceeded the whole number of white 
males of all ages in the parish in 1840. notwithstand- 
ing the property qualification exacted of voters. At 
the investigations afterward instituted, the steward 
of the steamboat " Agnes," John Gihncy, swore that 
the boat went down from New-Orleans with a full 
load of passengers, under the charge of Judge Leon- 
ard (the great man of Plaquemines) ; that he himself, 
a minor, not residing in Plaquemines, being persua- 
ded by the captain, voted three times at dift'erent 
polls in that parish — every time for Polk and Dallas. 
Dr. J. B. Wilkinson, a voter of Plaquemines, swore 
that he noticed that the polls were opened before the 
legal hour, and were then surrounded by a crowd 
of straji^eis, one of whom he ventured to challenge ; 
but, as the clerk reached out the book, the sheriff 
pulled it away, declaring that nobody should be 
Bworn ! After this the foreign votes went in pell- 
mell. Alfred Vail, a passenger, and E. Seymour 
Austin, pilot of the " Agnes," swore to a state of 
facts within their knowledge similar to that sworn 
to by John Gibney. Albert Savage, engineer of the 



by unprincipled men — and made competent instru- 
ments only by the accumulation of crime upon crime. 
Now it seems to me impossible that every honest 
man, and every good citizen, every true lover of lib- 
erty and the constitution, every real friend of the 
country, would not desire to see an end put to these 
enormous abuses." A reform, Mr. Web.sler added, 
was just as important to the rights of foreigners, 
regularly and fairly naturalized among us, as it is to 
the rights of native-born American citizens. 

The total vote in the Stale of New- York, in the 
presidential election of 1844, was— for Clay, 232,473 ; 
for Polk, e37,.'-,88 ; for Birney, 1. '5,812: in all, 48.'5,808. 
The majority for Polk over Clay was 5,115 ; the ma- 
jority for Clay and Birney over Polk, 10,632. In 
the city of New-York, and the counties of Krie and 
St. Lawrence, the moat remarkable increase in the 
Locofoco vote was exhibited, and here the largest 
amount of fraud was perpetrated. For weeks be- 
fore the election the courts in the city of New-York 
were crowded by the applicants for naturalization, 
sent there by the industrious Locofoco committees. 
One of the daily papers gave the following account 
of a scene presented the day before the election : 
'• Yesterday noon, more than three hundred alien.ai 
had crowded about the doors of the Common Pleas 
in the City Hall, when the room having been emp- 
tied through the windows, and the doors reopened 
for freBh^dmissious, such a scene was witnessed aa 
has rarely been exhibited in an American court- 
room. The doors were violently thrust in, and the 
avalanche of human beings came onward with such 
impetuosity as to o\ erthrow everything in its cour.se. 
Coats were torn off, hats were trodden under fool, 
men were crowded and jammed until almost lifeless, 
and, in two or three cases, half an hour elapsed be- 
fore they had recovered themselves sutRciently to 
speak. Outside of the court room the crowd of for- 



stearaboat " Planter," swore that his boat went down eigners was clamorous for admission, and it required 
with one hundred and forty Locofocos from New- i the physical force of six otKcers to make an opening 
Orleans, who voted after the fashion above dc- | for one of the judges. The court-room was filled 
scribed ; but when he offered a vote — it being a Clay and emptied not less than four times during the day, 
one — it was refused, the sheriff saying he would i and among the crowd wore a number of Irish wom- 
swear him ! Paid Cor7ncn. testified that he went en. ' In the city of New-York, notwithstanding an 



with other Whigs to vote, but they were deterred 
by seeing Charles Bruland driven out of the voting- 
room, wounded, bloody, and without his hat, having 
been beaten hy the sheriff for offering a Whig vote. 
There being a large Locofoco mob about the polls 



admitted defection from the Locofoco ranks to the 
Whig of at least 5,000, the Locofoco increase from 
1840 was C,361 ; in St. Lawrence county, it was 
1,126, while the Whig vote was diminished 131 ; in 
Erie, it was 1,359, while the Whig increase was 



threatening the few Whigs who approached, the i only 122. 
latter were obliged to leave, save in a few instances, ' All the convictions for fraud at the polls in thi.s 
without voting, so that the recorded vote of Plaque- I election were upon one political side, as was all the 
mines stood— for Clay, 37; for Polk, 1,007 ! The presumptive evidence of fraud. In the city of Ncw- 
Locofoco majority in the State was 699 ; and if the i York, the conspiracy for swindling the people bore 
vote of the Plaquemines precinct had been admitted the marks of deliberate trickery and systematic cor- 
to be as at the election of 1843, Mr. Clay would have I ruption. There is one plain fact which is a couclu- 
carried the State. | sive answer to those who, in their ignorance, might 

In his remarks at Faueuil Hall on the result of the ' quostion the assertion that the Locofocos are the 
election, Mr. Webster said : " I believe it to be an \ p;"ly which alone avails itself of these infamous out- 
unquestionable fact that masters of vessels, having ■ rages on the elective franchise. There is a simple 
brought over emigrants from Europe, have, within remedy for the evil — a registry law. In the cities 
thirty days of their anival. seen those very persons ■ of Massachusetts this law is found to operate as an 
carried up to the polls, and give their votes for the I edicient check to all illegal voting ; and iu Massacliu- 
highest offices iu the national and state governments, setts we see none of that inordinate increase in the 
Such voters of course exercise no intelligence, and, i Locofoco vote that was exhibited in other places, 
indeed, no volition of their own. They can know : where no such restrictions are established. The fa- 
nothing, either of the question at issue, or of the can- cilities for illegal voting in the city of New-York are 
didates proposed. They are mere instruments, used : enor.iious. A single iudividaal, by dint of hard 



94 



Life of Henry Clay. 



BV^'caring and adroit managcmeut, can vote at all the 
voting booths in the city, numbering upward of six- 
ty ! A well-drilleJ band of a hundred men might ea- 
sily cast upward of a thousand votes in one day ! A 
registry law is the only sufficient means of prevent- 
ing the evil, pompel every legal voter in every 
ward to have his name enrolled on a printed list of 
voters some days previous to the election, so that 
time may be given to the ward olTicers to compare 
the lists, and satisfy themselves of their correctness, 
and you provide a safeguard against the profana- 
tion of the ballot-box. W hich party has solicitously 
asked for such a safeguard, and which has repudi- 
ated it? Which party, after repeated exertions, 
procured a registi-y law, and which party, the mo- 
ment they came into power, abrogated it with an 
indecent haste 1 The replies to these questions fix 
the stigma of frand and corruption where it belongs. 
The Locofoco party of New-York have ever shown 
themselves the reckless and inveterate opponents 
of a registry law. They denounce it as anti-dem- 
ocratic. And why ? Because it takes the poor 
man from his work to go and register his name, and 
presupposes a certain amount of information on his 
part as to the requi.sitions of the law, for the ab- 
sence of which information he ought not to be dis- 
franchised. This is the sum and substance of Loco- 
foco argument against a registry law ; as if it were 
Jess democratic to secure the majority, by the only 
efficient safeguard, from being cheated, than to re- 
quire voters to go through the simple form of regis- 
tering their names a fitting time before the opening 
of the polls ! Although Locofocoistn may arrive at 
its conclusions by logic like this, it is obviously at 
war with sound democracy. The opposition which 
the party has always maintained in New-York to a 
registry law, is proof presumptive that the charges 
of fraud brought by the Whigs are not unfounded. 

The system of betting on elections, always objec- 
tionable, invariably operates in favor of the least 
scrupulous party. The money wagered is fore- 
stalled and parcelled out among political hacks, 
whose pay depending on the successful result of 
their services, they are incited to exertions the most 
reckless to compass their ends. Let the Whigs al- 
ways beware of betting with their antagonists. " It 
is naught, and it cannot come to good." The money 
foolishly lost in this way by Whigs at the election 
of 1S14 went to requite tlie services of thousands of 
those mercenary politicians who are ever ready to 
attach themselves to the party which pays the best. 
In the State of New- York alone there were cast 
spurious votes enough to defeat the election of Mr. 
Clay. In Louisiana, Georgia, and Pcnusylvania, 
similar frauds were perpetrated on a smaller scale. 
Had the true voice of the majority of legal voters in 
those States been heard, the result would have been 
favorable to the Wiiigs. But misrepresentation, 
brute force, and political immorality, prevailed. The 
gubject is an ungracious one to dwell upon. The 
history of the frauds of 1844 is a dark chapter in our 
annals. Party profligacy then exhausted its re- 
sources in the attainment of its ends. 

We have already described with what renewed 
confidence and attachment the country turned to 
Mr. Clay alter that defeat. " 1 have been," he 
writes, the Srith of April, 1845, " in spite of unex- 
pected discomfitures, the object of honors and of 



compliments uBually rendered only to those who 
are successful and victorious in the great enterprises 
of mankind. To say nothing of other demonstra- 
tions, the addresses and communications which I 
have received since the election from every quar- 
ter, from collective bodies and individuals, and from 
both ee.xes, conveying sentiments and feelings of the 
warmest regard and strongest friendship, and de- 
ploring the issue of the election, would fill a volume. 
I have been quite as much, if not more, affected by 
them than I was by any disappointment of personal 
interests of my own in the event of the contest." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

The Consequences of the Election — The War — How com- 
menced — Mr. Gallatin's Statement — Mr. Clay on the 
War— Comparison with the Last War — The Twenty- 
Ninth Congress — State of the Country — The Taritt'and 
the Sub-Treasury, &,c. 

The public acts of Mr. Clay exhibit unequivocally 
the principles by which he would have been guided 
and the policy he would have pursued in the event 
of his election. They are the principles and the pol- 
icy to which the Whig party owed, and continues 
to owe, all its cohesion and all its power. A tri- 
umph without them would not be a Whig triumph. 
It might benefit a few office-seekers and professional 
politicians here and there, but it would be barrec 
of all good to the people at large. 

In the opinion of Mr. Clay, the policy of the coun- 
try in regard to the protection of American industry 
seemed, previous to the election of 1844, to be rap- 
idly acquiring a permanent and fixed character. 
Yielding to the joint influence of their own reflec- 
tions and experience, the slave States were fast sub- 
scribing to the justice and expediency of a Tariff 
for revenue, vv'ith discriminations for protection. At 
such an auspicious moment, beguiled by the misrep- 
resentations which proclaimed Mr. Polk as equally 
a friend to the Tariff with Mr. Clay, the great States 
of Pennsylvania and New-York, both friendly to the 
protective policy, allowed it to be periled and im- 
paired by the ascendency of a hostile administra- 
tion. 

The distribution of the proceeds of the sales of 
the public lands v^'as another measure which the 
triumph of the Whigs w^ould have secured ; and if 
the great national inheritance of those lands is not 
wasted in a few years by graduation and other proj- 
ects of alienation, it must be through the adoption of 
a system kindred to that which Mr. Clay has con- 
sistently advocated. Internal improvements, the 
removal of obstructions from our rivers and harbors, 
the enlargement of all those facilities which contrib- 
ute to the comfort, the prosperity, and the dignity of 
mankind, would have been embraced in that compre- 
hensive and generous policy which has always found 
a ready champion in Mr. Clay. Instead of a barren 
and unproductive war, the pernicious consequences 
of which will be felt to a remote posterity, we should 
have had the money of the nation expended upon 
objects which would have been permanently produc- 
tive and beneficent. In return for all the money and 
blood lavished in the unrighteous war with Mexico, 
what can we show? Territory, which we could 
have acquired by peaceful means at a tenth part of 
the expenditure ! But what amount of unrequired 
territory, or of opulent spoils, could requite the deso- 



'j'exas The War — How commenced — ilr. Gallatin's Statement — Mr. Clay on the War. 96 

she claimed, she never had actually exercised juris- 
diction over any portion of it. The Mexicans were 
the Bole inhabitants, and in actual possession of that 
district. Its forcible occupation, therefore, by the 
army of the United Stales, was, according to the ac- 
knowle'1f,'cd law of nations, as well as in fact, an act 
of open hostility and war. The resistance of the Mex- 
icans to that invasion was legitimate ; and therefore 
the war was unprovoked by them, ami commenced 
by the United States." 

The story is lucidly told by Mr. Clay in his speech 
at Lexington, the 13th of November, 1817 — a speech 
to which we shall have occasion to allude again. In 
this he says : 

" IIow did we unhappily get involved in this war ? 
It was predicted as the consccjucnce of the annexa- 
tion of Texas to the United States. If we had not 
Texas, we should have no war. The people were 
told that if that event happened, war would ensue. 
They were told that the war between Texas and 
Mexico had not been terminated by a treaty of 
peace ; that Mexico still claimed Texas as a revolt- 
ed province ; and that, if we received Texas in our 
Union, we took along with her the war exi.sting be- 
tween her and Mexico. And the minister of Mexi- 
co formally announced to the Government at Wash- 
ington that his nation would consider the annexation 
of Texas to the United States as producing a state 
of war. But all this was denied by the partizansof 
annexation. They insisted that we should have no 
war, and even imputed to those who foretold it eia- 
ister motives for their groundless prediction. 

" But, notwithstanding a state of virtual war ne- 
cessarily resulted from llie fact of annexation of one 
of the belligerents to the United State.-*, actual hos- 
tilities midit have been probably averted by pru- 
dence, moderation, and wise statesmanship. If Gen- 
eral Taylor had been permitted to remain, where hia 
own good sense prompted him to believe he ought 
to remain, at the point of Corpus Christi ; and if a 
negotiation had been opened with Mexico, in a true 
spirit of amity Bnd conciliation, war possibly might 
have been prevented. But, instead of this pacific 
and moderate course, while Mr. Slidell was bending 
his way to Mexico with his diplomatic credentials. 
General Taylor wasordered to transport his cannon 
and to plant them in a warlike altitude opposite to 
Matamoras, on the east bank of the Rio Bravo, with 
in the very disputed territory the adjustment of which 
was to be the object of Mr. Slidell's mission. What 
el.=e could have transpired but a conflict of arms ? 

" Thus the war conmienced ; and the President, 
after having produced it, appealed to Congress. A 
bill was proposed to raise iii'ty thousand volunteers, 
and, in order to commit all who should vote for it, a 
preamble was inserted, falsely attributing the com- 
mencement of the war to the act of Mexico. I have 
no doubt of the patriotic motives oftho.se who, after 
struggling to divest the bill of that flagrant error, 
found themselves constrained to vote for it. But I 
must say that no earthly consideration would have 
ever tempted or provoked me to vote for a bill with 
a palpable falsehood stamped on its face. Almost 
idolizing truth as 1 do, I never, never could have 
voted for that bill." 

Our last war with Great Britain Mr. Clay charac- 
terizes as " a just war. Its great object, announced 
at the time, was free trade and sailors' rights against 
the intolerable and oppressive acts of British power 
on the ocean." He continues : 

" How totally variant is the present war ! This 
is no war of defence, but one unnecessary and of 
offensive aggression. It is Mexico that is defending 
her firesides, her castle.s, and her altars, not we. 
And how different al.so is the conduct of the Whig 
party of the present day from that of the major part 
of tlie l<'ederal party during the wci" of 1812 ! Far 



lation inflicted upon thoasands of hearts by the rav- 
ages of war ? — 

" Why praise wp, prodigal of fame. 
The ra^e that sets the world on tlaine ? 
The future Mxise his brow shall bind. 
Whose godlike bounty spares mankind. 
For those whom bloody {rarlands crown. 
The brass iftay breathe, the marble frown ; 
To him. through every rescued land. 
Ten tliousand living trophies stand." 

Had the true wish of the country prevailed, we 
should have had no war with Mexico, no national 
debt, no repeal of the Tariff of 1842, no Sub-Treas- 
ury, no imputation against us, by the united voice 
of all the nations of the earth, of a spirit of aggres- 
sion and inordinate territorial aggrandizement. 

At the commencement of the second session of 
the twenty-eighth Congress (December, 1844), the 
acting President, Mr. Tyler, ofiicially announced to 
the two houses that •' a controlling majority of the peo- 
ple, and a large majority of the States," had declared 
in favor of the immediate annexation of Texas. " In- 
structions," he added, " have thus come to both 
branches of Congress from their respective constitu- 
ents, in terms the most emphatic. It is the will of 
both the people and the States, that Texas shall be 
annexed to the Union, promptly and immediately." 
He remarked further: " The two Governments hav- 
ing already agreed, through their respective organs, 
on the terms of annexation, I would recommend 
their adoption by Congress, in the form of a joint 
resolution, or act, to be perfected and made binding 
on the two countries, when adopted in like manner 
by the Government of Texas." 

The subject of annexation was soon taken up in 
Congress and discussed with great zeal on both 
sides ; and finally, after the public mind had been 
intensely agitated in regard to it, the recommenda- 
tion of Mr. Tyler was adopted; and early in March, 
1845, a joint resolution for annexing Texas was 
passed and approved. The proposition was accept- 
ed by Texas, through her Congress and a Conven- 
tion ; and the annexation project was complete. The 
incidents which followed may be briefly summed 
up. Mr. Polk was no sooner seated in the presiden- 
tial chair, than the consequences, which Mr. Clay 
had predicted, and Mexico had threatened, began 
to develop themselves. The Texas we annexed 
was " revolutionary Texas." There was, moreo- 
ver, a disputed boundary between her and Me.xico. 
In anticipation of the refusal of Mexico to receive 
our Minister, Mr. Slidell, the administration gave di- 
rections to General Taylok to take position on the 
west hank of the Rio Grande. Congress was in .ses- 
sion at the time : but Mr. Polk did not see fit to con- 
sult Congress in regard to measures which must 
necessarily lead to a collision between the two coun- 
tries. It was only by rumors and reports that our 
Representatives knew that those measures were ma- 
taring until the war burst forth, and the work of 
blood commenced in earnest. The territory into 
which the President, of his own caprice, had thus 
ordered our troops, was one to which neither Texas 
nor the United States had any just claim— a territory 
in possession of a nation with which we were at 
peace ! In the language of the octogenarian Albert 
Gallatin, "the republic of Texas had not a shadow 
of right to the territory adjacent to the left bank of 
the lovyer portion of the Rio del Norte. Though 



96 



Life of Henry Clay. 



from interposinpr anv obstacles to the prosecution of I wings, it had but little to do with our increased ex- 
the war, il' the VVliipa in office are reproachable at port for the year 1847." The export of cotton has 



all, it is for having lent loo ready a facility to it, 
without careful examination into the objects of tlic 
■war. And, out of oflico, who have rushed to the 
prosecution of the war with more ardor and alacrity 
than the Wlii^s? Whose hearts have bled more 
freely than those of the Whigs ? Who have more 
occasion to mourn the loss of sons, hu-sbands, broth- 
ers, fathers, than Whig parents, Whig wives, and 
"Whig brothers, in this deadly and unprolitable 
strife ?" 

The twenty-ninth Congress, the first which met 
nnder the administration of Mr. Polk, found the coun- 
try prosperous and contented. Under the equitable 
Tariff of 1842, domestic industry, in all its branches, 
received a wholesome measure of protection and 
encouragement. Our exports and imports exhibit- 
ed neither an undue expansion, nor a contraction in- 
dicative of a public financial decline. The revenue 
of the country was steady, ample, and reliable ; and 
the public debt, which Mr. Van Buren's administra- 
tion had originated and fostered, was diminishing at 
the rale of millions annually. At length it seemed that 
the fluctuations to which the trade and industrial enter- 
prise had been subjected, in consequence of Locofoco 
assaults upon the Tariff, wore at an end ; and thai 
commerce and manufactures were about to be es- 
tablished on a stable basis. The bitter hostility of 
the south to the protective system was fast abating ; 
and in the States of Georgia and Virginia factories 
were going up and new resources developing them- 
Belves, as if to strengthen, by the ties of interest, the 
eympathies of different sections of the country upon 
a subject which had been rife with portents of fra- 
ternal discord and disunion. 

Undeterred by this spectacle of prosperity and 
Iiarmony, the Adminisiration laid its profane hands 
upon the Tariff of 1842. In its stead they gave us 
that of 1846. By this substitute, there is actual dis- 
crimination against the labor of the United States, 
and in favor of that of foreign countries. Owing to 
extraordinary causes, among which the famine in 
JSurope and the war with Mexico are prominent, 
we have not yet fully realized the legitimate conse- 
quences of this disastrous retrograde movement in 
the policy oi' the country.- But the utter failure of 
the Tariff of ]84G as a revenne measure has been 
conclusively shown oa the floor of Congress. Not- 
with.standing the assurances of the President and 
the Secretary of the Treasury to the contrary, that 
Tariff", so far from augmenting the revenue of the 
country, exhibits a falling off from what the revenue 
would have been, under the Tariff of 1842, of 
$12,284,954.* If the imports had remained at the 
average of the three preceding years, the revenue 
under the present Tariff would have amounted to 
only $17,624,575; or $'J,28,'3,r.:Jl less than the aver- 
age of the three years under the Whig Tariff. 

The extraordinary exportations made during the 
famine in Europe were attributed by the friends of 
the administration to the new Tariff; but " the sim- 
ple fact that our increased export consisted almost 
entirely of provisions, shows us the true cause of riur 
augmented imports and exports ; and, unless the 
Tariff of 184C iiad power over the seasons, aud ac- 
tually scattered blight, mildew, and famine, from its 

'■ According to the computation of Mr. Hudson, of Mas- 
snchuscttfl. 



been less by four millions of dollars during the year 
1^47 than the average exports of the last ten years ; 
and tobacco a million and a half If this reduction 
of the Tariff has caused an increase of exporls, why, 
it is asked, has it not extended to sqpe other articles 
than breadstuffs ? 

In a letter bearing date the 5th of June, 1846, Mr. 
Clay explained the whole practical philosophy of 
the protective principle in the following luminous 
remarks : 

" The manufactures of Great Britain have reached 
a very high degree of perfection by means of her 
great capital, her improving skill and machinery, 
her cheap labor, and under a system of protection 
long, perseveringly, and vigorously enforced. She, 
moreover, possesses an immense advantage for the 
sale and distribution of her numerous manufactures, 
in her vast colonial possessions, from which those of 
foreign powers are either entirely excluded, or ad- 
mitted on terms very unequally with her own. I am 
not tlierefore surprised that, under these favorable 
circum.stances, Great Britain should herself be desi- 
rous to adopt, and to prevail on other nations lo 
adopt, the principle of free trade. I shall be mista- 
ken if any of the great nations of the continent should 
follow an example the practical effects of which will 
be so beneficial to her and so injurious to them. The 
propriety of affording protection to domestic manu- 
factures, its degree, and its duration, depends upon 
the national condition and the actual progress which 
they have made. Each nation, of right, ought to 
judge for itself I believe tliat history rcfords no in- 
stance of any great and prosperous nation, which 
did not draw its essential supplies of food and rai- 
ment from within its own limits. If all nations were 
just commencing their career, or if their manufac- 
tures had all made equal progress, it might perhaps 
be wise to throw open the markets of the world to 
the freest and most unrestricted competition. But 
it is manifest that while the manufactures of some 
have acquired all the maturity and perfection of 
which they are susceptible, and those of others are 
yet in their infancj', struggling hard for existence, a 
free competition between them must redound to the 
advantage of the experienced and skilful, and to the 
injury of those who are just begiiming to naturalize 
and establish tJie arts. 

'• No earthly gratification to the heart of a states- 
man can be greater than that of having contributed 
to the adoption of a great system of national policy, 
and of afterward witnessing its complete success in 
its practical operation. That gratilication can be 
enjoyed by those who were instrumental in estab- 
lishing the policy of protecting our domestic manu- 
factures. Every promise which they made has been 
fuUilled. Every prediction which they hazarded as 
to the quality and quantity of the domestic supply, 
as to the reduction of prices, as to the effect of com. 
petition at home, and as to the abundance of the pub- 
lic revenue, has been fully realized. And it is no 
less remarkable that every counter prediction with- 
out exception of the opponents of the policy has, in 
the sequel, been entirely falsified. 

" Without U-acing particulariy the operation of our 
earlier tariff's, adjusted both to the objects of revenue 
and protection, and coming down to the last, it seems 
to nio tiial if there were ever a benelicial effect front 
any public mea.surff fully demonstrated, it is, that the 
Tariff' of 1842, beyond all controversy, relieved both 
the Government and the people of the United States 
from a state of pecuniary embarra.ssment bordering 
on bankruptcy. Entertaining these views and opin- 
ions, I should deeply regret any abandonment of the 
policy of protection, or any material alteration of the 
Taiilf of 1842, which has worked so well. If its op- 
eration had been even doubtful, would it not be wiser 



The. Sub-Treasury— The War— Testimonials in Hmior of Mr. Clay. 



97 



to await further developments from experience, be- 
fore we plunge into a new and unexplored tl\eory ? 
Scarcely any misfortune is so great to the business 
and pursuits of a people as that of perpetual change." 
In a letter of September 10, 181(i, written subse- 
quent to the abolition of the Tarill of '42, Mr. Clay 
remarked : " I believe the system of protection, not- 
withstanding the opposition which it haa often on- j j 
countered, has pushed the nation forward half a 
century in advance of where it would have been if 
the doctrines of free trade had always prevailed in 
our public councils. Whether it will be pushed 
back again to the same or any other extent by the 
Tariff recently e.stabli.shod, which has sought to sub- 
vert the previous system, and to embody these doc- 
trines, remains to be seen. 1 confess that I seriou.sly 
apprehend great injury to the general business of 
the country, and ultimately to the revenue of the 
Government." 

The Sub-Treasury system, adopted August, 18-16, 
has been found injurious to the public interests, un- 
■wieldy, expensive, and liable to the grossest abuses. 
But the war and the Tariff have diverted public at- 
tention from its practical operation. In his Message 
of December, 1847, the President says : " The cou- 
etitulional treasury created by this act went into op- 
eration on the 1st of January last. Under the system 
established by it, the public moneys have been col- 
lected, safely kept, and disbursed, by the direct agen- 
cy of ofilcers of the Government, in gold and silver ; 
and transfers of large amounts have been made from 
points of collection to points of disbursement, with- 
out loss to the treasury, or injury or inconvenience 
to the trade of the country." With treasury notes 
below par, as they were about the time of the pro- 
mulgation of these assertion.?, it may easily be seen 
why there should have been great facilities of trans- 
fer ; but there have been repeated instances of great 
losses to the country in consequence of the defects 
and evils of the Sub-Treasury system. The only 
■class benefited by its operation are the officeholders 
snd the favored financiers of the Government. Ac- 
cording to Mr. Polk's own confession, " in some of 
its details, not involving its general principles, the 
system is defective, and will require modification." 

We have thus glanced briefly at some of the meas- 
ures of Mr. Polk's administration. To enumerate 
all that it has left undone, which it ought to have 
done, had the best interests of the country been con- 
Bulted, would be but to recapitulate many of those 
objects of policy which the public career of Mr. Clay 
exhibit him as contending for. 

The consequences of his non-election to the Pres- 
idency have been — an unrighteous and demoralizing 
war ; the abrogation of a tariff under which the coun- 
try was thriving beyond all precedent ; and the es- 
tablishment of a sub-treasury : for all which, in the 
language of tlie " Ancient Mariner" of Coleridge, 
we — 

" Penance mnch have done, 
And penance more must do." 

" Atthe commencement of the war," says Mr. Hud- 
son, in his speech before the House, February .5th, 
1848, " our finances were in the most prosperous con- 
dition, there being a surplus of ten millions of dollars 
in the treasury. And now, after the war has been 
prosecuted twenty months, we are on the verge of 
bankruptcy. We have consumed the ordinary rev- 



enue, cxhau.sted the ten millions surplus, together 
with a loan on treasury-notes to the amount of thirty- 
three millions, and are now called upon for a grant 
of sixteen millions more, to supply the wants of the 
Government during the present fiscal year ; and this 
sum, I am persuaded, will be found too small by 
eight or ten millions. So that, when the war shall 
lave continued twenty- five months, we shall have 
e.'cpcndcd, in addition to the accruing revenue, some 
sixtyeight millions of dollars. This is but a part of 
the burdens brought upon us by this unnecessary war. 
Our munitions of war, which have been accumula- 
ting for years in our arsenals, some fifteen millions 
of dollars' worth of our public domain given, or to 
be given, in bounty to our soldiers, and long lists of 
pensions and private claims growing out of the war 
— these should be taken into the account, and will 
go far in increasing the sum. These are some of 
tiie pecuniary burdens which a weak and wicked 
administration have wantonly brought upon the peo- 
ple." 



CHAPTER XXV. 

TestimouiaU in honor of Mr. Clay — Instance of the De- 
votion of his Friends — His Address on receiving a Vase 
from Ladies of Tennessee — A Visiter's Description of 
Mr. Clay at Ashland— Mr. Clay visits New-Orleans and 
8t. Louis — A Misrepresentation noticed — Ilis Appeal in 
belialf of famishing b-eland. 

We have seen that neither the untoward issue of 
the Presidential contest of 1844 nor the shades of 
Ashland could remove Mr. Clay less prominently 
from before the public eye. Though not President 
of the United States, though dispensing no patron- 
age, and holding no power of promotion, he yet ex- 
ercised a moral sway over his countrymen which 
station could never give, nor the removal of it take 
away. Though not Chief Magistrate, he was still 
chief citizen of the republic ; and though he could 
not bestow lucrative posts and profitable jobs, he 
could communicate what was far better — high con- 
victions of public duty, generous views of public 
policy, and great truths, which his past acts and pres- 
ent opinions commended to every patriotic mind. 

Allusion has already been made to the- testimony 
in his honor which tlie Whig ladies of Virginia re- 
solved upon soon after his defeat. Their proceed- 
ings were denounced by some loyal Locofoco as a 
'• movement conceived in a spirit of rebellion to pub- 
lic sentiment." Rather were they a token of sym- 
pathy with the beatings of the public heart. These 
ladies determined to procure a statue of Henry Clay 
to adorn the metropolis of his native State, and liber- 
ally have they carried out their plan ; employing a 
native artist, Mr. Joel T. Hart, to execute the work, 
and munificently providing the means for its accom- 
plishment. Mr. Hart, haviug modelled the statue, 
goes to Europe to cut it in marble. A competent 
critic thus describes the model: 

" Mr. Hart has blended the idea and spirit of ac- 
tion with the actual presence and exhibition of re- 
pose—the latter always so essential to the highest 
and most agreeable effect of the sculptor's art. Mr. 
Clay is represented resting the weight of his body 
principally upon his right foot, the left being thrown 
a little forward ajid the toes turned out. The head 
is sufficiently erect to g've dignity and spirit to the 



98 



Life, of Henry Clay. 



' general bearing, without approaching the offensive 

• and vulgar line of arrogance and self esteem, and 
' the face is turned slightly to the right, in the diiec- 
' tiou of the corresponding arm. The fingers of the 
' left hand rest lightfuily and gracefully upon a ped- 
' estal, appropriately placed, while his right arm, 
'just fallen from an uplifted position, is sufficiently 
' extended from the elbow to show, with the open 
■ and forward-looking palm, action just finished in- 
' stead of continuous and habitual repose. The face 
'is full of lofty animation, self possession, and the 
' rest of conscious power. 

" The costume is a simple citizen's dre.s.s, such as 

* Mr. Clay usually wears. The coat, unbuttoned, 
' is loose enough not to be stiff and formal ; shoes are 
' worn instead of boots, according to Mr. Clay's in- 
' variable custom ; and the shirt-collar is turned down, 
' not according to his custom, but as a matter of great 
' convenience if not necessity to the artist, in the ex- 
' hibition of the neck and throat." 

During his visit to Washington in the winter of 
1848, an excellent full-length likeness of Mr. Clay 
was taken by Chester Harding, of Massachusetts. 
It was procured by the voluntary subscription of the 
people of \Vashingtou, in testimony of their appre- 
ciation of the noble qualities and public services of 
one who had spent so long a portion of his life in 
their midst, during which he had so completely won 
their esteem and affection. 

Few public men ever had such troops of devoted 
friends as Mr. Clay. It is not by professions only 
that their devotion is manifested. In the spring of 
1845, he met with a substantial, and, at the same 
time, a most touching and signal proof of the estima- 
tion in which he i.s held. A number of friends, resi- 
ding in the eastern States, having learned indirectly 
that a considerable portion of Mr. Clay's entire prop- 
erty was about to be swept away to pay the notes 
of one of his family connexions, on which he was 
endorser, quietly raised the sum of fifty thousand 
dollars, and paid the notes at the bank in which they 
were deposited. The first intimation which he had 
of the movement was the reception of his cancelled 
obligation ; and not a name was disclosed of the in- 
dividuals who had had any agency in the transac- 
tion. 

The artizans and mechanics of the country have, 
in instances too numerous to mention, shown their 
sense of the efficient support which Mr. Clay has al- 
ways rendered to the cause of American industry 
and skill. In the autumn of 1845, the working gold 
and silver artificers of the city of New- York present- 
ed him a .silver vase three feet high, neatly and elab- 
orately chased, and bearing a complimentary in- 
scription. Its value was a thousand dollars. Mr. 
Clay has more reason than people are generally 
aware of to feel a sympathy with the mechanic clas- 
ses. His only surviving full brother was once a very 
skilful cabinet-maker, and several specimens of his 
bandywork remain among the furniture at Ashland. 

In November, 184G, a magnificent vase was pre- 
sented to Mr. Clay by the ladies of Tennessee. His 
address upon the occasion of receiving the donation 
contains so much of public interest, that we quote it 
entire : 

" Dr. M'Nairy : It is no ordinary occurrence nor 
any common mission that honors me by your pres- 
ence. To be deputed, as you have been, by a large 



circle of Tennessee ladies to bear the flattering sen- 
timents toward me which you have just so eloquently 
expressed, and to deliver to me the precious testimo- 
nials of their inestimable respect and reganl which 
you have brought, is a proud incident in my life, ever 
to be remembered with feelings of profound grati- 
tude and delight. 

" My obligation to tho.se ladies is not the less, for 
the high opinion of me which they do me the honor 
to entertain ; because I feel entirely conscious that I 
owe it more to their generous partiality than to any 
merits 1 possess, or to the value of any public ser- 
vices which I have ever been able to render. 

" If, indeed, their kind wishes in relation to the is- 
sue of the last presidential election had been grati- 
fied, I have no doubt that we should have avoided 
some of those public measures, so pregnant \vith the 
evils to our country, to which you have adverted. 
We should have preserved, undisturbed and with- 
out hazard, peace willi all the world, have had no 
unhappy war with a neighboring sister republic, 
^nd consequently no deplorable waste of human life, 
of which that which has been sacrificed or impaired 
in an insalubrious climate is far greater and more 
lamentable than v^hat has been lost in the glorious 
achievements of a brave army, commanded by a skil- 
ful and gallant general. 

" We should have saved the millions of treasure 
which that unnecessary war has and will cost — an 
immense amount — sufficient to improve every use- 
ful harbor on the lakes, on the ocean, on the gulf of 
Mexico, and in the interior, and to remove obstruc- 
tions to navigation in all the great rivers in the Uni- 
ted States. 

" We should not have subverted a patriotic sys- 
tem of domestic protection, fostering the industry of 
our own people and the interests of our own coun- 
try, the great benefits which have been practically 
demonstrated by experience, for the visionary prom- 
ises of an alien policy of free trade, fostering the in- 
dustry of foieigu people and the interests of foreign 
countries, which has brought in its train disaster 
and ruin to every nation that has had the temerity 
to try it. The beneficial tariff of 1842, which raised 
both the people and the government of the United 
States out of a condition of distress and embarrass- 
ment bordering on bankruptcy, to a state of high 
financial and general prosperity, would not be stand- 
ing unimpaired, in the statute-book, instead of the 
fatal taritt' of 1846, whose calamitous effects will, I 
apprehend, sooner or later, be certainly realized. 

" All this, and more of what has since occurred in 
the public councils, was foretold prior to that elec- 
tion. It was denied, disbelieved, or unheeded ; and 
we now realize the unfortunate consequences. But 
both philosophy and patriotism enjoin that we should 
not indulge in unavailing regrets as to the incurable 
past. As a part of liistory in which it is embodied, 
we may derive from it instructive lessons for our fu- 
ture guidance, and we ought to redouble our exer- 
tions to prevent their being unprofitably lost. 

'• I receive with the greatest pleasure the splendid 
and magnificent vase of silver which the ladies of 
Tennessee, whom you represent, have charged yoa 
to present to me. W^rought by American artists, 
tendered bj' my fair countrywomen, and brought to 
me by an ever-faithful, ardent, and distinguished 
friend, it comes with a triple title to my grateful ac- 
ceptance. I request you to convey to those ladies 
respectful and cordial assurances of my warm and 
heartfelt thanks and acknowledgments. Tell them 
I will carefully preserve, during life, and transmit to 
my descendants, an unfading recollection of their 
signal and g(!nerous manifestations of attachment 
and confidence. And tell tlieni also that my fervent 
prayers shall he ott'er(!d up for their happiness and 
prosperity, and shall be united with theirs that they 
may live to behold our country emerged from the 
dark clouds which encompass it, and once more 
as in better times, standing out. a bright and cheer- 
ing example, the moral and political model and 



Description of a Visit to Ashland — Mr. Clay's Residence — Lord Morpeth, £fc. 



99 



guide, the hope, and the admiration, of the nations 
ol the earth. 

•' I should entirely foil, Dr. M'Nairj', on this inter- 
CBting occasion, to grive utterance to my feelings, if 
i (lid not eagerly seize it to express to you. my good 
friend, my great obligations for the faithful and un- 
interrupted friendship which, in prosperous and ad- 
verse fortune, and amid all the vicissitudes of my 
chequered life, you have constantly, zealously, and 
fearlessly displayed. May you yet long live, in 
health, happine.ss, and prosperity, and enjoy the 
choicest blessings of a merciful and bountiful Provi- 
dence." 

Engaged in legal and agricultural pursuit.^ re- 
ceiving continued testimonials of the esteem and 
gratitude of his countrymen, and making occasional 
excursions, Mr. Clay passed the greater portion of 
tlie two years which succeeded the contest of 1844. 
A letter, which bears the date of Lexington, May 
25, 1845, gives a pleasing picture of the genial sim- 
plicity and hospitality to be found at Ashland : " I 
'have at last realized one of my dearest wishes — that 
' of seeing Mr. Clay at Ashland. I called on him with 
' a friend this morning, but he was absent on his 
'farm, and Charles, his freed slave, told us he would 
' not be at home till afternoon ; so we returned to 
' Lexington, and, at five, P. M., retraced our .steps to 
' Ashland. Mr. Clay had returned ; and meeting us 
' at the door, took hold of our hands before I could 
' even present a letter of introduction, and made us 
' welcome to his house. His manners completely 
' overcame all the ceremonies of speech I bad pre- 
' pared. We were soon perfectly at home, as ev- 
' ery one must be with Henry Clay, and, in a half- 
' hour's time, we had talked about the various sec- 
' tioDs of the country I had visited the past year, Mr. 
' Clay occasiorLally giving us incidents and recollec- 
' tions of his own life : and I felt as though I had 
' known him personally for years. 

" Mr. Clay has lived at Ashland forty years. The 
' place bore the name when he came to it. as he 
' says, probably on account of the ash timber, with 
' which it abounds ; and he has made it the most de- 
'lightfnl retreat in all the West. The estate is 
' about six hundred acres large, all under the highest 
' cultivation, except some two hundred acres of park, 
' which is entirely cleared of underbrush and small 
' trees, and is, to use the woi-ds of Lord Morpeth, 
' who stayed at Ashland nearly a week, the nearest 
' approach to an English park of any in this country. 
' It serves also for a noble pasture, and here I saw 
' some of Mr. Clay's tine horses and Durham cattle. 
' He is said to have some of the finest stock in all 
' Kentucky, which is to saj', the finest in America ; 
' and, if I am able to judge, I confirm that report. 
' The larger part of his farm is devoted to wheat, 
' rye, hemp, &.C., and his crops look most splendidh/. 
' He has also paid great attention to ornamenting his 
' lands with beautiful shade-trees, shrubs, flowers, 
' and fruit-orchards. From the road, which passes 
' his place on the northwest side, a caiTiage-road 
' leads up to the house, lined with locust, cypress, 
' cedar, and other rare trees, and the rose, jasmine, 
' and ivy, were clambering about them, and peeping 
' through the grass and the boughs like so many 
' twinkling fairies a.s we drove up. 

"Ashland is about a mile from Lexington, easter- 
' ly, on the road leading out of Main street, and is 
' one of the loveliest situations around this delightful 



' town. Mr. Clay's mansion is nearly hidden from 
the road by the trees surrounding it, and is as quiet 
and secluded, save to the throng of pilgrims contin- 
ually pouring up there to greet its more than royal 
' possessor, as though it were in the wilderness. 
■ Some parts of it arc now undergoing repairs, and 
' Mr. Clay took us about to see his contemplated im- 
' provements. The houses of his slaves are all very 
' neat, and surrounded by better gardens and more 
' flowers and shrubbery than one half the farmhousea 
' in the country, and all the inmates are as happy as 
' human being.s can be. ' Charles,' of whom so much 
' has been said, is a kind of second master of the 
' household to Mr. Clay, and enjoys the greatest 
' trust and confidence. To him can the keys of the 
' wine-cellar be given without fear, and on all occa- 
' sions when help was needed, Mr. Clay would call 
' for Charles. It was Charles v/ho brought us wine, 
' Charles was at the door, at the carriage, at the 
' gate, everywhere, in fact, and as polite and civil aa 
' a man asking for office. He is a fine-looking, mid- 
' die-sized negro, about thirty years old, and I do not 
' believe he could be drawn from Mr. Clay except 
' by absolute animal force, so great is his devotion to 
' him. As I said, Mr. Clay has lived at Ashland for- 
' ty years. He said he had seen Cincinnati grow 
' from a small village to its present size, and had 
' witnessed the growth of much of the west at the. 
' same time. Beside the six hundred acres, he has 
' about two liundred acres at a distance, in the rear 
' of Ashland, and these two lots fonn bis estate. 

" As it was nearly night when we called on Mr. 
' Clay, we had hardly time to see things properly, 
' and he urged me to come up again. I went up the 
' day following in company with the ' Swiss Bell- 
' Ringers,' who were also on a visit to Ashland. Mr. 
' Clay received the band and myself warmly at the 
' door, and, after a few civilities, put on his white 
' hat and walked through the grounds with us, talk- 
' ing freely and familiarly to all. He is the most 
' easy and affable man I have ever seen. He picked 
' a rose for each of us : mine I have most carefully 
' pressed, and shall give it to my lady-love, when I 
' find one, and she may consider it a prize ! He 
' told me, while we were walking, about Lord Mor- 
' peth's early rising at Ashland, and said that his 
' lordship used to go on foot a mile down to the post- 
' office, and bring up the mail before he was out of 
' bed. Of Morpeth, Mr. Clay spoke in the highest 
' terms. 

" After an hour spent in the park and garden, the 
' bell-ringers proposed giving Mr. Clay and his fam- 
' ily a specimen of their music, and we of course ad- 
'journed to the house. Here, for the first time, I 
' saw Mrs. Clay, and a son, Mr. John Clay. Mr. Clay 
' was expecting the bell ringers, and had invited for- 
'the occasion a few friends. They performed be- 
' fore him to his very great delight. On this occa^ 
' sion Mr. Clay sent for some of his home made wine 
' pressed at Ashland from the Catawba grape. It 
' was most delicious ; something like sparkling hock 
' in flavor, but of a richer taste. After performing 
' several pieces in the house, the bell-ringers went 
' out into the park, and rang the chimes on a peal of 
' twelve bells, their auditors remaining in the bouse. 
' I never heard anything so bewitching as the sound 
' of the bells during that chime. Mr. Clay said he 
' would be glad to have a chapel in the paxk, if he 



ioo 



Life, of Henry Clay, 



' could always hear such voices from it. It was to 
' me a rare treat. 

" On Sunday, the day following my last visit to 
' AsWaud, I could not resist the inclination to see 
'once more a place to me so very hallowed. On 
' my way up I pasi^ed Mr. Clay, who, with his wife, 
'had started for church. 'Alas!' thought I, as I 
'looked upon his high calm brow for the last time, 
"can this be the gambler, sabbath-breaker, blas- 
' phemer. all these vile characters combined, which 
' have been ascribed to him, and cried abroad by 
' men whose lips were too foul to speak as great a 
' name as he will bear when they and their memo- 
' ries are less than ashes ?' One hour with Mr. Clay 
' at home stamps libel on all these execrable lies, and 
' he who enjoys that hour says in his heart, ' That is 
' the simplest and noblest man I ever looked upon.' " 

Mr. Clay passed a good part of the winter and 
spring of 1846 in New-Orleans, whither he had been 
called by professional business. It would be but a 
repetition of past scenes to describe with what a 
•warmth of welcome he was received. He took oc- 
casion, on his departure, to visit St. Louis, where he 
arrived on the 4th of April, and met with a most en- 
thusiastic reception. He reached his residence at 
Ashland on the 22d of that month, with his health 
much benefited by the travel and relaxation he had 
enjoyed. 

An attempt was made the succeeding winter to 
induce Mr. Clay to accept an election to the United 
States Senate, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the 
retirement of Mr. Morehead, wliose terra was to ex- 
pire the next 4th of March; but Mr. Clay perempto- 
rily declined the honor. He was again in New- 
Orleans the succeeding v^'inter. He was present at 
the celebration of the anniversary of the landing of 
the Pilgrims, the 20d of December ; and is reported 
by one of the newspapers of the day to have re- 
marked, on being called upon to reply to a compli- 
mentary toast: " Altliough leading a life of retire- 
ment, I am not wholly unobservant of the proceed- 
ings relating to the condition, welfare, and prospects, 
of our country. And when I saw around me to-night 
General Brooke and other old friends, I felt half in- 
clined to ask for some nook or corner in the army, 
in which I might serve, to avenge the wrongs done 
*o my country. I have thought that I might yet be 
able to capture or slay a Mexican. I shall not be 
able to do so, however, this year, but hope that suc- 
^cess will still crown oar gallant arms, and the war 
terminate in an honorable peace." These remarks 
have been the subject of some ridiculously severe 
animadversions. If they are cori'ectly reported 
(which is very doubtful), who that knows Mr. Clay 
does not recognize the half-sportive, ironical spirit, 
in which they were intended ? At the social table, 
not dreaming, probably, that there were "chiels" 
about him "takin' notes,'" a ludicrous image starts 
into his mind, and ho gives it utterance. The idea 
that he would be so far inflamed with martial ardor, 
and catch the warlike infection, as to shoulder a mus- 
ket, presents itself to his mind and drops from his 
lips in a purely jocose, conversational tone. But it 
is at once taken up and misrepresented by his op- 
ponents. 

While in New-Orleanfl, early in 1847, the wail of 
famishing Ireland fell on the cars of Mr. Clay, and 
•it once arou.sed the warmest sympathies of his heait. 



Being invited to attend a meeting held in aid of the 
sufferers, he went ; and being loudly called for by 
those pre.sent, addressed them as follows: 

"Mr. PllKSIDENf AND FeLLOwCiTIZENS : 

" I hesitated to accept the invitation which has 
brought me here. Being a mere Bojoumer and not a 
member of this community, I doubled the propriety 
of my presence and participation in the proceedings 
of this meeting, and apprehended that my motive 
mii^'ht be misunderstood. But — on consulting my 
pillow, and considering that the humanity of the ob- 
ject of this assembly is bounded by no latitude nor 
locality, and ought to be co-extensive with the 
whole human family — it seemed to me that all con- 
siderations of fastidious delicacy and etiquette should 
be waived and merged in a generous and magnan- 
imous effort to contribute to tlie relief of the suffer- 
ings which have excited our feelings. If I should 
be misconceived or misrepresented, the experience 
of a long life has taught me, that the best response 
to miscouception and misrepresentation is the fear- 
less and faithful di.scl!arge of duty, in all the condi- 
tions of life in which we may be placed ; and the 
answer to traduction and calumny, is conscious 
rectitude and the approbation of one's own heart. 

"Mr. President — If we were to hear that large 
numbers of the inhabitants of Asia, or Africa, or 
Australia, or the remotest part of the globe, were 
daily dying with hunger and famine— no matter what 
their color, what their religion, or what their civiliza- 
tion — we should deeply lament their condition, and 
be irresistibly prompted, if possible, to mitigate 
their sufferings. But it is not the distresses of any 
such distant regions that have summoned us together 
on this occa.sion. The appalling and heartrending 
distresses of Ireland and Irishmen form the object 
of our present consultation. That Ireland, which 
has been in all the vicissitudes of our national exist- 
ence our friend, and has ever extended to us her 
warmest sympathy — those Irishmen, who, in every 
war in which we have been engaged, on every 
battle-field, from (iuebec to Monterey, have stood 
by us, shoulder to shoulder, and shared in all the 
perils and fortunes of the conflict. 

" The imploring appeal comes to us from the Irish 
nation, which is so identified with our own as to be 
almost part and parcel of ours — bone of our bone 
and flesh of our fiesh. Nor is it any ordinary case 
of human misery, or a few isolated cases of death 
by starvation, that we are called upon to consider. 
Famine is stalking abroad throughout Ireland — 
whole towns, counties — countless human beings, 
of every age and of both sexes, at. this very moment, 
are starving, or in danger of star^ang to death for 
bread. Of all the forms of dissolution of human 
life, the pangs and agony of that which proceeds 
from famine are the most dreadful. If one diesfight- 
ing gloriously for his country, he is cheered in his 
expiring moments by the patriotic nature of his sac- 
rifice. He knows that his surviving relations and 
friends, while lamenting his lo.s9, will be gratified 
and honored by his devotion to his country. Poets, 
painters, sculptors, historians — will record his deeds 
of valor and perpetuate his renown. If he dies by 
the sudden explosion of the boilers of a steamboat, 
or by a storm at sea, death is quiet and easy, and 
soon performs his mission. A few piercing shrieks 
are uttered, he sinks beneath the surface, and all is 
still and silent. But a death by .starvation comes 
slow, lingering and excruciating. From day to day 
the wretched victim feels his flesh dwindling, his 
speech sinking, his friends falling around him, and 
he finely expires in honible agony. 

"Behold the wretched Iri.sh mother— with hag- 
gard looks and streaming eyes — her famished chil- 
dren clinging to her tattered garments, and gazing 
piteously in her face, begging for food! And see 
the distracted husband father, with pallid cheeks, 
standing by, horror and despair depicted in his 
counlenauce— toitured with tlic reflottiou that he 



Speech in Jid of Ireland— Successes of our Jrmy in Mexico— Buena VisLa. 



101 



can afford no succor or relief to tlie dearest objects 
of his heirf, about to be snatched forever from him 
by the most crnel of nil deaths. 

" This is no fancy piotnre ; but. if we are to credit 
the terrible accounts which reach us from that theatre 
of misery and wretchedness, is one of daily occur- 
rence, indeed, no imaginntion can conceive — no 
tongue express — no pencil pnint — the horrors of the 
scenes which arc there daily exhibited. Ireland, 
in respect to food, is differently situated from all the 
countries of the world. Asia has her abundant 
supply of rice; Africa, her dates, yams and rice; 
Europe, her bread of wheat, rye and_ oat.>3 ; Ameri- 
ca, a double resource in the small crraiiis, and a nev- 
er failina; and abundant supply of Indian corn — 
that preat supporter of animal life, for which weave 
not half grateful enough to a bountiful and merciful 
Providence. But the .staple food of large parts of 
poor Ireland is the potato, and when it fails, pinch- 
ing want and Hunine follow. It is among the iu- 
scmtable dispensations of Providence, that the crop 
has been blighted the two last years ; and hence the 
privation of food, and this appeal to the sympathy 
of American hearts. 

"Shall it be in vain? Shall starving Ireland — 
the young and the old — dying women and children 
— stretch out their hands to us for bread, and find no 
relief? Will not this great city, the world's store- 
house of an exhaustless supply of all kinds of food, 
borne to its overHowing warehouses by the Father j 
of Waters, act on this occasion in a manner worthy 
of its high destiny, and obey the noble impulse.'' of 
the generous hearts of its blessed inlinbitanls ? We 
are commnnded, by the common Savior of Ireland 
and of us, to love one another as our.<elves ; and on 
this, together with one higher obligation, hang all 
the law and prophets of our holy religion. We 
know, that of all the forms of humanity and benevo- 
lence, none is more acceptable, in the sight of God, 
than the practice of chiirity. Let us demonstrate 
our love, our duty and our gratitude to Him, by a 
liberal contribution to the relief of His sutTeriug 
Irish children. 

" Fellow-citizens, no ordinary purpose has brought 
us together. This is no political gathering. If it 
had been, you would not have seen me here. I 
have not come io make a speech. When the heart 
is full and agitated by its own feeling emotions, the 
paralyzed tongue finds utterance difficult. It is not 
fervid eloquence, not gilded words, that Ireland 
needs — but substantial food. Let us rise to the 
magnitude of the duty which is before us, and by a 
generous supply from the magnitude of our means, 
evince the genuineness and cordiality of our sym- 
pathy and corami.seration." 

At the conclusion of this speech, one loud and 
unanimous shout of approval was raised, in which 
officers and audience participated. The effect of 
the speech is well told in a letter addressed to Mr. 
Clay by two Irishmen of New York, and accom- 
panied with an elegant gift of cutlery. " It was the 
good fortune of one of us," they say, " to hear your 
speech in behalf of the fami.shing millions of our 
native land, when in New Orleans on business dur- 
ing that dreadful winter of 1846-'7 ; it has since been 
the fortune of the other to hear and to witness in 
Ireland and elsewhere in Europe the admiration 
and gratitude which that speech has excited ; it is 
the pleasing duty of both to thank God that your 
thrilling appeal to the best feelings of our common 
humanity was the means, by stimulating the ener- 
gies of ever-blessed charity among the American 
people, of saving thousands of our countrymen from 
a death of agony and horror. It must be an abiding 
joy to your generous heart to know that American 
benevolence is devoutly blessed in parishe.9 and 
cabins where even your name, illustrious as it is, 



had hardly been heard before the famine ; and that 
thousands have been impelled by their deliverance 
from the worst effects of that dire calamity to invoke 
blessings on the head of Heniiy Cr.AY. 

" You have often, and most appropriately, received 
at the hands of your countrymen by birth, fitting 
acknowledgments of your services, in the shape of 
rare products of their unsurpassed mechanical in- 
genuity and skill. 0»rhumblc offering is the work 
of foreign artisans, in grateful acknowledgment of 
your powerful aid to an oppressed and suffering 
race on the other side of the Atlantic. We trust 
it may not on that account be unacceptable, but 
that, among your many tokens of American esteem 
and thankfulness, a single remembrance of the tears 
of gratitude which at the mention of your namo 
have bedewed the cheek of suffering Ireland may 
not be unwelcome." 

" I must have had a heart colder than stone," says 
Mr. Clay in reply, '• if 1 had been capable of listen- 
ing to the sad account of Irish di.stress without the 
deepest emotions. My regret was, that I could do 
little or nothing to mitigate the sufferings of a gen- 
erous and gallant people. Nor did my own coun- 
trymen, I am fully persuaded, require any stimulus 
from me, to prompt them to extend all practicable 
succors, to those with whom we are intimately con- 
nected by so many pleasing ties." 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Successes of our Army in Mexico — Buena Vista — Mr. Clay 
receives news of his ."^on's Death— Letter of General 
Taylor, announcing the Event— Mr. Clay joins the 
Church— His Visit to Cape May— Address of the Nevir- 
York Delegates, and his Reply. 

The war with Mexico was, in its results, as hon- 
orable to the army of the United States, as, in its 
origin, it was disgraceful to the administrations of 
Messrs. Tyler and Polk. The series of brilliant sue 
cesses achieved under Generals Taylor and Scott — 
the rapidly-succeeding victories of Palo Alto, Resaca 
de la Palma, Monterey, Buena Vista, Cerro Gordo, 
Churubusco, and Chepultepec— are unparalleled in 
the history of modern warfare, in the numerical infe- 
riority of the forces by which vast numbers were 
overcome. 

It was with heavy forebodings that Mr. Clay left 
New-Orleans. Our gallant army under Taylor was 
known to be in a situation of great peril, surrounded 
by overwhelming numbers of the enemy, and depen- 
dent solely upon the personal courage of the officers 
and men, united to the intrepidity and sagacity of 
their revered General, for its safety. Mr. Clay's 
son Henry had quitted the practice of the law, and 
hastened to join the standard of his country in Mexi- 
co early in the contest, and was now with Taylor at 
Buena Vista. This generous-spirited young man 
was born in 1811. Having graduated with high 
honors at West Point Academy, he had studied law, 
married, travelled a while in Europe, and returned 
to Kentucky, to serve his country on the battle-field 
when the occasion invited. 

As Mr. Clay was leaving Frankfort for Ashland,, 
he received the melancholy intelligence of the death 
of his sou. The paper containing the news was 
handed to him by a friend, and he carefully read it 
until he came to the sad announcement. Then he 



102 



Lift of Henry Clay. 



trembled like an aspen, but uttered no word, save a 
command to the driver to move on. " Amid all the 
clustering honors of his elevated career," says a wri- 
ter of the day, " Mr. Clay has been a man of sor- 
rows. The affections of his home have been great 
as his own heart, and have yearned over his children 
with an intensity of love which only noble natures 
know. Bat — 

" Affliction seemed enamored of Ills pai-ts ;" 
death has been busy about his hearth.stone ; and one 
by one he has seen many of those who so proudly 
claimed him as father or grandsire, taken from him. 
Their heritage of love devolved upon the survivors ; 
and his son, who bore his name and shared his vir- 
tues, was the pride and glory of his honored old age. 
But his country demanded that son. The struggle 
of the father's heart must have been a mighty one ; 
but he devoted him — as he had devoted his own lus- 
trous life — to his country. The heroism of Colonel 
Clay rendered it certain that his career would be 
brilliant, but probable that it would also be brief. 
Mr. Clay seemed to feel a parental presentiment that 
such would be the fact. We rejoice that the unhap- 
py tidings found him at home and among his kindred 
(though all the land is his home, and every heart his 
kindred), where his tears can mingle with those of 
the stricken partner of his afflictions. We dare not, 
even in imagination, intrude upon the scene made 
sacred by sorrow : yet we know enough of the hero- 
statesman to believe that, even in his hour of deso- 
lation, the pride of the patriot and the parent may 
afford some solace, and that the sentiment of Cato 
over his sacrifice will rise from his heart : 

' I'm satisfied ! 
Thanks to the gods ! my son has done his duty. 
How beautiful is death when earned by virtue ! 
WTio would not be that youth ? What pity is it 
That we can die but once to serve our comiti'y !' " 

The following letter from General Taylor, com- 
municating the afflicting intelligence to Mr. Clay, is 
as honorable to the writer as it is to the departed 
hero: 

" Headquarters, Army of Occupation', ) 
" Agua Nueva, Mexico, March 1, 1847. ^ 

" My Dear Sir: You will no doubt have received, 
before this can reach you, the deeply distressing in- 
telligence of the death of your son in the battle of 
Buena Vista. It is with no wish of intruding upon 
the sanctuary of parental sorrow, and with no hope 
of administering any consolation to your wounded 
heart, that I have taken the liberty of addressing you 
these few lines ; but I have felt it a duty which I 
owe to the memory of the distinguished dead, to pay 
a willing tribute to his many excellent qualities, and 
while mj' feelings are still fresh, to express the deso- 
lation which his untimely loss and that of other kin- 
dred spirits have occasioned. 

" I had but a casual acquaintance with your sou, 
until he became for a time a member of my military 
family, and I can truly say that no one ever won 
more rapidly upon my regard, or established a more 
lasting claim to my respect and e.^^tcem. Manly and 
honorable in every impulse, witli no feeling but for 
the honor of the service and of the country, he gave 
every assurance that in the hour of need 1 could 
lean with confiilence upon lii.s support. Nor was I 
disappointed. Under the guidance of himself and 
the lamented M'Kee, gallantly did the sons of Ken- 
tucky, in the thickest of the strife, uphold the honor 
of the State and the country. 

"A grateful people will do justice to the memory 
of those who fell on that eventful day. But I may 



be permitted to express the bereavement which I 
feel in the loss of valued friends. To your son I felt 
bound by the strongest ties of private regard, and 
when I miss his familiar face and those of M'Kee 
and Hardin, I can say with truth that 1 felt no exal- 
tation in our success. 

" With the expression of my deepest and most 
heartfelt sympathies for your irreparable loss, I re- 
main your friend, Z. Taylor. 

■' Hon. Henry Clay, New-Orleans, La." 

General Taylor has always been forward to ap- 
preciate and recognize the eminent public services 
and claims of Mr. Clay. In a letter to Joseph R. In- 
gersoll, dated August 3, 1847, he writes : " At the 
last presidential canvass, it was well known to all 
with whom I mixed, Whigs and Democrats — for 1 
had no concealments in the matter — that I was deci- 
dedly in favor of Mr. Clay's election ; and I would 
now prefer seeing him in that office to any individ- 
ual in the Union." This is sufficiently emphatic. 
Lasting honor to the tried and honorable soldier, who 
can thus yield the pahn to civic worth and qualifica- 
tions ! To whatever point party contingencies may 
tend, they must not, they can not sunder the conse- 
crated ties of friend.ship and esteem which exist be- 
tween the hero of Ashland and him of Buena Vista. 

" My life has been full of domestic afflictions, but 
this last is one of the severest among them." wrote 
Mr. Clay to a friend soon after the news of the fall 
of his son. The ensuing 8th of April, in a letter to 
a committee of the Whigs of Auburn, he alluded to 
the Mexican war in the following terms : " Yoa ex- 
press your regret on account of the unexpected issue 
of the last presidential election. I ought to feel none 
for myself personally. Besides being relieved from 
a vast responsibility, it furnished the occasion of the 
exhibition of testimonials, and the outpouring of af- 
fection from the hearts of my friends and country- 
men, of which I bad no previous conception that I 
ever could be the honored object. Their spontane- 
ous and disinterested manifestations are worth far 
more than the Presidency itself. For our common 
country I do regret the issue of the contest. Had it 
been otherwi-se, we should have preserved the pro- 
tective policy, under which we had made such rapid 
and encouraging advances ; the march of improve- 
ment in our rivers and harbors would not have been 
arrested ; and, above all, we should have avoided 
this unnecessary war of aggression with a neighbor, 
torn to pieces bj- internal dissensions. The brilliant 
achievements, and the glorious laurels acquired, du- 
ring its prosecution, gratifying as they are to our na- 
tional pride and character, can never compensate 
for the exceptionable manner in which it was begun, 
the brave and patriotic lives which have been sacri- 
ficed, and the fearful issues which, I tremble in con- 
templating, may grow out of its termination. But I 
have not now a heart to dwell on this painful theme. 
I turn from it with hope and dutiful submission to 
Him whose no doubt wise but inscrutable dispensa- 
tion has permiitcd this awful calamity to visit our 
beloved country." 

An interesting event transpired at Ashland during 
the summer of 1847. It can best be told in the lan- 
guage of an eye-witness, under date of June 2oth : 

" A notice was very generally circulated through 
the public papers of the country, some two or three 
years ago, to the effect that Mr. Clay had become a 
member of the Protestant Episcopal church. The 



3fr. Clay joins the Church— He visits Cape May — Proceedings at Philadelphia. 103 



'vish was doubtless father to the thought, as Mr. Clay 
had not at that time taken any such step. He h as al- 
ways been known to have the highest respect for the 
institutions of Christianity, and to have been a dcci- 
led believer in the Divine authenticity of the ChrKs 
;ian religion — his amiable and now deeply afflicted 
wife having for many year.-* been an humble follower 
, ! its blessed Author. When the weather permitted 
it, living as he does a rriile and a half from the church, 
Mr. Clay has always been a regular attendant on its 
services ; and for two or three years past, having 
had more leisure from public duty, his attention had 
evidently been turned to the high considerations con- 
nected with things spiritual and eternal — his life hav- 
ing been devoted so intensely to the good of others, 
as scarcely, until this period of retirement, to leave 
him an opportunity to think of himself But he has 
at length consecrated his great powers to God. He 
was baptized in the little parlor at Ashland on Tues- 
day, the 2'2d instant, together with one of his daugh- 
ters-in-law (the other being already a member of the 
church) and her four children, by the Rev. Edward 
F. Berkley, rector of Christ church, Lexington. The 
baptism was administered privately, for the reason 
that the congregation of Christ church are replacing 
their old church with a new edifice, now in rapid 
progress of erection, and are not suitably situated for 
the most solemn and decent administration of this 
rite in public. 

" When the minister entered the room, on this 
deeply solemn and interesting occasion, the small as- 
sembly, consisting of the immediate family, a few 
family connexions, and the clergyman's wife, rose 
up. Intlie middle of the room stood a large centre- 
table, on which was placed, filled with water, the 
magnificent cut-glass vase presented to Mr. Claj' by 
some gentlemen of Pittsburg. On one side of tlie 
room hung the large picture of the family of Wash- 
ington, himself an Epi.?copalian by birth, by educa- 
tion, and a devout communicant of the church ; and 
immediately oppo.site, on a side-table, stood the bust 
of the lamented Harrison, with a chaplet of withered 
flowers hung upon his head, who was to have been 
confirmed in the church the sabbath after he died — 
fit witnesses of such a scene. Around the room 
were suspended a number of family pictures, and 
among them the portrait of a beloved daughter, who 
died some years ago, in the triumphs of that faith 
which her noble father was now about to embrace ; 
and the picture of the late lost son, who fell at the 
battle of Buena Vista. Could these silent lookers- 
on at the scene about transpiring, have spoken from 
the marble and the canvass, they would heartily have 
approved the act which dedicated tlie great man to 
God. There was a deep emotion pervading that 
small assembly at the recital, under such circum- 
etances, of the sublime ordinal of the church." 

Early in the ensuing August Mr. Clay left Ken- 
tacky to try the benefit of sea-bathing at Cape May. 
On the 14th of that month he reached Philadelphia, 
having been greeted at every stopping place on his 
route with the sympathizing respects and enthusi- 
astic cheers of the people. At Philadelphia he be- 
came the guest of Mr. Henry White. An immense 
multitude soon assembled before the house, anxious 
to catch sight of the venerated statesman. When 
he appeared on the balcony, the manifestations of 
enthusiasm and of welcome were indescribable ; ev- 



ery man of the vast crowd seemed anxious to ex- 
tend a personal token of admiration and attachment. 
When silence was restored, Mr. Clay remarked that 
he had come to the city without any intention — cer- 
tainly without any desire — of causing such a mani- 
festation. He had left his home for the purpose of 
escaping from afflicting and perpetually recurring 
feelings ; in the hope of finding among the friends 
whom he might meet during his travels, a portion 
of con.9olation for the heaviest affliction Providence 
had ejvcr visited upon him : but under whatever cir- 
cumstances he might have come, he would be void 
of gratitude, he would be destitute 'of all the finer 
feelings of nature, if he failed in thankfulness for the 
kindness so manifested. The city of Philadelphia, 
he was proud to say, had. during all the trials, diffi- 
culties, and vicissitudes, of his chequered career, 
been his warm and steadfast friend. 

But if oven the occasion was not unfit, the feelings 
under which he labored would prevent him from 
seizing upon it for the purpose of making a set 
speech ; and in parting, he would onlj' add the ex- 
pression of a wish — as the day which ushers in the 
sabbath, that all men should respect, was nearly 
spent — that they would unite with him in the senti- 
ment, that to our country, whether it is directed in 
its public measures by a good government or a bad 
one — whether it is in prosperity or adversity — in 
peace or at war — we should always give our hearts, 
our hands, and our hopes. Mr. Clay then bade his 
fellow-citizens farewell, and retired amid the stormy 
plaudits and affectionate " good-nights" of the dis- 
persing multitude. 

At Cape May Mr. Clay was the object of renewed 
testimonials of public love and regard. The coun- 
try people for miles around crowded to see him, 
while all the visiters to the island vied with each 
other in demonstrations of lionor and sympathy. On 
the afternoon of the 18th he e.vperienced a somewhat 
narrow escape from serious injury. Riding out on 
the beach in company with a young lady from Ken- 
tucky and two of his friends, in Mr. Brolaskey's 
coach, drawn by four spirited horses — on their re- 
turn, the driver, in curbing one of the leaders rather 
suddenly, caused him to commence kicking. Both 
leaders then kicked the horses behind them, and 
these jumped and reared until they broke the shaft, 
and ran the carriage into the fence. Just before it 
struck, Mr. Clay seized the young lady in hi.s arms, 
opened the door, and leaped out of the carriage un- 
hurt, before the driver or any of the bystanders could 
render assistance. The carriage rolled on, struck 
the fence, and was considerably damaged. 

While sojourning at this pleasant watering-place, 
delegates from New- York and New-Haven made a 
trip to Cape May purposelj' to invite him to visit 
their cities. The scene of their interview with him 
was one of the most interesting and animating that 
had been experienced even in the career of one who 
had so long been the subject of public lionors the 
most grateful and estimable. It took place in the 
great hall of the Mansion House, which was crowd- 
ed on the occasion with spectators, many of whom 
were ladies. After appropriate music from a good 
band, Mr. Clay made his appearance, and Mr. Nich- 
olas Dean, who had been commissioned as their 
spokesman by the New- York delegation, addressed 
him as follows : 



Life of Henry Clay. 



104 



♦' Through the unexpected kindness of friends, I 
am the honored instrument of expressing to you, 
sir, briefly, eentimenls which are common to us all. 
You are surrounded by a few of your fellow-citizens 
from the city of New York— not the result of po 
litical association, not ihe offspring of party organi- 
zation — who had individually learned from the pub- 
lic press tliut you were sojourning in their vicinity, 
and who by one simultaneous impulse, threw tljem- 
selvcs on board a swift means of communication, 
and hastened licre to grasp you by the hand, and 
ofter to you the homage of tlieir warm salutations. 
[Cheers and other manifestations of applause.] 

"But, sir, we have another and more important 
duty to perform ; we come in the names of 400,000 
persons, to ask you once again to visit our metropo- 
lis. [Applause.] Once again to permit us within 
the circle of our own corporate limits, to express to 
you our deep appreciation of the eminent services 
■which you, through a long series of years have 
rendered, not to us only, but to our whole country ; 
[cheers of applause], once again to furnish us the 
opportunity of expressing to you our undiminished 
confidence and esteem, the love, the reverence with 
which we regard you. [Continued applause.] 

" These, sir, are no ordinary sentiments, nor are 
they felt in any ordinary degree. They are the 
warm and hearty expressions of a generous and 
grateful spirit ; suffer them not to be chilled by de- 
ferred hope, or in any degree repressed by present 
disappointment. Permit us, we pray you, sir, to 
announce to our friends with the speed of lightning 
that [with emphasis], Henry Clay will come to 
them. [Applause loud and long.] 

" A hundred thousand tongues are waiting to 
spread the glad intelligence, and the great aggregate 
heart of our entire city is throbbing to bid you wel- 
come, thrice welcome, to its hospitalities." [Cheers, 
cheers, cheers.] 

During the delivery of this address, Mr. Clay 
seemed gratefully touched, and, after a pause of a 
few moments, he replied in the following lan- 
guage :— 

" Gentlemen of the committee from New York 
— gentlemen of the committee from Trenton — gen- 
tlemen of the committee from New Haven — 
gentlemen of the committee from Philadelphia — 
for there are conventions present from all these 
places — fellow-citizens: the eloquent address, which 
has just been delivered, has had the effect almost 
to induce me, to adopt the language which was 
used on a more solemn occasion, ' Thou almost 
persuadest me,' to go. [Great applause.] But in 
all that uprightness of nature, which I have ever 
endeavored to practise, I must tell you the objects 
and motives which have brought me to the shores 
of the Atlantic. I returned to my residence, af 
ter passing the winter at New Orleans, on the 
twenty third or twenty-fourth of March last, and in 
a day or two afterward melancholy intelligence 
reached me. [Here Mr. Clay evinced great emo- 
tion.] I have been nervous ever since, and was 
induced to take this journey ; for I could not look 
upon the partner of my sorrows without experiencing 
deeper anguish. [The speaker was here overcome 
by his feelings and paused some miimtes, covering 
his face wilhhis hands ; at length recovering hira- 
eelf, he resumed] Everything about Ashland was 
associated witli the memory of the lost one. The 
very trees which his hands had assisted me to plant 
served to remind me of my loss. Had the stroke 
come alone 1 could have borne it, with His a.ssisl- 
ance, and eustained by the kindness of my friends 
and fellow-citizens, with meekness and resignation ; 
but of eleven children four only remain — [emotion] 
— of six lovely and ailectionale daughters not one is 
left. Finding myself in that theatre of sadness. 1 
thought 1 would fly to the mountain's top, and de- 



scend to the ocean's wave, and by meeting with the 
sympathy of friends, obtain some reliff for the sad- 
ness which surrounded me. I came for private pur- 
po.ses, and from private motives alone. I have not 
sought these public manifestations, nor have I de- 
sired to escape them. My friend and travelling 
companion. Doctor Mercer, will tell you that in 
Virginia — in every .section of the state of my birth — 
I have been implored to remain, if only for a few 
hours, to exchange congratulations with my friends, 
but 1 invariably refused, and only remained in each 
place sufficiently long to exchange one vehicle for 
another. You may imjigine that I made a visit to 
Philadelphia — but I was accidentally thrown into 
Philadelphia. When I arrived in Baltimore, I learn- 
ed that the most direct route to this place was by 
the Delaware. I had no public object in view. 
Indiflferent I am not, nor can I be, to the honor, wel- 
fare and glory of my country. [Cheers.] Gentlemea 
of the committee of New York, I have truly and 
sincerely disclosed the purpose of my journey, but I 
cannot but deeply feel this manifestation of your re- 
spect and regard. It is received with thankfulness, 
and reaches the warmest feelings of my heart — 
that I, a private and humble citizen, without an 
army, without a navy, without even a constable's 
staff, should have been met at every step of my 
progress with the kindest manifestations of feelings 
— manifestations of which at present a monarch or 
an emperor might well be proud. [Tremendous ap- 
plause.] No — 1 am not insensible to these tokens 
of public affection and regard. I am thankful for 
them all. [Cheers] To you. gentlemen, of the 
committee of New York, who, in behalf of four hun- 
dred thousand individuals whom you represent, 
have ta'Ken so much trouble, I am deeply thankful 
lor this manifestation of your regard, but I must re- 
luctantly decline the honor of your invitation. T& 
the citizens of Trenton, New Haven, and Philadel- 
phia, I must beg [here M. Clay addressed the com- 
mittees from the other places] of you, to excuse me ; 
and trust to their affection to do so ; for if I do not 
place myself on the affections of my countrymen, 
whither should I go and where should I be ? On the 
wide ocean, without a compass, and without a guide. 
[Very great applause.] I must beg of you, gentle- 
men of all tlie.se committees, to retrace your steps, 
charged and surcharged with my warmest feelings 
of gratitude. Go back charged with warm thanks 
fiom me, and tell my friends that nothing but the 
circumstances in which I am placed — nothing else, 
(for we may as well mingle a laugh with our tears, 
and borrow the words of the Irish ambassador) " sit- 
uated as 1 am, and I may say, circumstanced as I 
am" — deprives me of the honor of meeting you. 
[Laughter.] Tell them, and I hope this response 
will be considered as a specific answer to each of 
the committees (lor if you could see how my time is 
occupied here, you would know it is impossible for 
me to waste it), that you are charged with the ex- 
pression of the best feelings of my heart. And you, 
gentlemen of New York, be assured that it will be 
long before this evidence of your regard will be for- 
gotten. Among the recollections of the incidents 
of this journey, this visit will be paramount, and 
Ihe circumstances which led to it. I wish you an 
agreeable voyage on your return ; and make my 
apologies for being constrained to decline your kind 
invitation." 

After passing a few days at Newcastle with his 
friend the Hon. John M. Clayton, and having been 
absent from home about a month, Mr. Clay return- 
ed to Kentucky, reinvigorated in health and spirits, 
and carrying with him new stores of recollections 
of hcniors, and testimonials of attachment, with 
which his countrymen had everywhere marked bio 
progress. 



Mr. Clay's Speech at Lexington on the Mexican War. 



105 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Mr. Clay's Speech and Resolutions nt Lexington on the 
Mexican War — The Response from the People. 

In every important eng.igement in Mexico our ar- 
mies had beoii sucoessful. The victory of Buena 
Vista Iiad been a fitting climax to the military oper- 
ations of Taylor ; and Scott had achieved a new con- 
quest of Mexico, hardly less marvellous than that 
which Cortcz had accomplished centuries before. 
The city of the Moiitezumas was occupied by our 
troops. The fortresses of the country and lier prin- 
cipal port were in our possesfiion. Mexico was at 
our feet ; and the question was, " What is to be done 
with our victory ?" 

Some were for annexing the whole country. Oth- 
ers were for drawing a line, and claiming all inside 
of it. Some were for despoiling Mexico ; and oth- 
ers were for magnanimously abandoning all the 
fruits of our conquest. At this juncture, the 13th of 
November, 18-17, Mr. Clay, whose views upon the 
subject had been looked for with solicitude, lifted 
his voice in behalf of the humane, the honorable, and 
the politic course. It \vas at Lexiugton that his 
speech on the Mexican war was delivered. An im- 
mense concourse of citizens was present to hear him. 
Among them were Senator Crittenden, Governor 
Letcher, the Hon. Garrett Davis, and a whole host 
of distinguished Kentuckians and eminent strangers 
from other States, as well as many ladies, who all 
listened with the deepest attention. Mr. Clay is rep- 
resented as having spoken with all the fervor and 
animation of his yonnger life : and, notwithstanding 
the length of the speech and his energetic deliver- 
ance, and the fact that his voice had been impaired 
by a speech of more than three hours' duration, 
which professional duty had required him to make 
only a few days before, there was no lack of physi- 
cal strength to the end, when he seemed as fresh as 
at the commencement. His exordium on this occa- 
sion is graceful and touching. The weather being 
■unfavorable, the circumstance was converted to his 
use in associating it with his topic : 

" The day," he said, " is dark and gloomy, unset- 
tled and uncertain, like the condition of our country 
in regard to the unnatural war with Mexico. The 
public mind is agitated and anxious, and is filled with 
serious apprehensions as to its indefinite continuance, 
and especially as to the consequences which its ter- 
mination may bring forth, menacing the harmony, if 
not the existence, of our Union. It is under these 
circumstances I present myself before you. No or- 
dinary occasion would have drawn me from the re- 
tirement in which I live ; but, while a single pulsa- 
tion of the human heart remains, it should, if neces- 
sary, be dedicated to the service of one's country. 
And I have hoped that, although I am a private and 
humble citizen, an expression of the views and opin- 
ions I entertain might form some little addition to the 
general stock of information, and afford a small as- 
sistance in delivering our country from the perils 
and dangers which surround it." 

There is a graceful melancholy in the following 
allusion to the approach of old age : " I have come 
here with no purpose to attempt to make a fine 
speech, or any ambitious oratorical display. I have 
brought with me no rhetorical bouquets to throw into 
this assemblage. In the circle of the year autumn 



has come, and the aeason of flowers has passed away. 
In the progress of years, my spring time has gone by, 
and I too am in the autumn of life, and feel the frost 
of age. My desire ami aim are to address you ear- 
nestly, calmly, seriouslj-, and plainly, upon the grave 
and momentous subjects which have brought us to- 
gether. Anrl I am most solicitous that not a solitary 
word may fall from me olTcnsive to any parly or per- 
son in the whole extent of the Union." 

Mr. Clay then took a review of those scourges of 
mankind, of which war is not the least : 

" War, pestilence, and famine, by the common 
consent of mankind, arc the three greatest calamities 
which can befall our species ; and war, as the most 
direful, justly stands foremost and in front. Pesti- 
lence and famine, no doubt for \vise although inscru- 
table purposes, are inilictions of Providence, to which 
it is our duty, therefore, to bow with obedience, hum- 
ble submission, and resignation. Their duration is 
not long, and their ravages are limited. They bring, 
indeed, great affliction while they last, but society 
.soon recovers from their effects. War is the volun- 
tary work of our own hands, and whatever reproach- 
es it may deserve should be directed to ourselves. 
When it breaks out, its duration is indefinite and un- 
known — its vicissitudes are hidden from our view. 
In the sacrifice of human life, and in the waste of 
human treasure, in its losses and in its burdens, it af- 
fects both belligerent nations ; and its sad effects of 
mangled bodies, of death, and of desolation, endure 
long after its thunders are hushed in peace. War 
unhinges society, disturbs its peaceful and regular 
industry, and scatters poisonous seeds of disea.se and 
immoraliiy, which continue to germinate and diffuse 
their baneful influence long afler it has ceased. Daz- 
zling by its glitter, pomp, and pageantry, it begets 
a spirit of wild adventure and romantic enterprise, 
and often disqualifies those who embark in i(, after 
their return from the bloody fields of battle, from en- 
gaging in the industrious and peaceful vocations of 
life. 

" We are informed by a statement, which is ap- 
parently correct, that the number of our counti-ymen 
slain in this lamentable Mexican war, although it 
has yet been of only eighteen months' existence, is 
equal to one half of the whole of the American loss 
during the seven years' war of the Revolution ! And 
I venture to assert that the expenditure of treasure 
which it has occasioned, when it shall come to be 
fairly ascertained and footed up, will be found to be 
more than half of the pecuniary cost of tiie war of 
our independence. And this is the condition of the 
party whose arms have been everywhere constantly 
victorious !" 

After stating those views in regard to the origin 
and causes of the war with which the reader of his 
life is already fiimiliar, Mr. Clay came to the consid- 
eration of the question, how was it to be brought to 
a satisfactory close ? The mode which he indicated 
was, that Congress, inasmuch as it has the right, ei- 
ther at the beginning or during the pro,secution of 
any war, to decide the objects and purposes for 
which it was proclaimed, or for which it ought to be 
continued, should, by some deliberate and authentic 
^ct, declare for what objects the existing war should 
be prosecuted. He supposed the President would 
not hesitate to regulate his conduct by the pro- 
nounced will of Congress, and to employ the force 
and the dipkmiatic power of the nation to execute 
that will. But, if the President should decline or 
refu.se to do so, and, in contempt of the supreme au- 
thority of Congress, should persevere in waging the 
war, for other objects than those proclaimed by Con- 
gress, then it would be the imperative duty of that 
body to vindicate its authority by the most stringent^ 



106 Life of Henry Clay. 

and effectual, and appropiiate measures. And if, on 
the contrary, the enemy should refuse to conclude 
a treaty, containing Btipulations securing the ob- 
jects designated by Congress, it would become the 
duty of the whole government to prosecute the war 
with all the national energy, until those objects were 
attained by a treaty of peace. There could be no 
insuperable difficulty in Congress making such an 
authoritative declaration. Let it resolve, simply, that 
the war should or should not be a war of conquest ; 
and, if a war of conquest, what was to be conquered. 
To the project of annexation Mr. Clay expressed 
his decided hostility : 

" Does any considerate man," he asked, " believe 
it possible that two such immense countries, with 
territories of nearly equal extent, with populations 
so incongruous, so difl'erent in race, in languai;e, in 
religion and in laws, could be blended together in 
one harmonious mass, and happily governed by one 
common authority ? Murmurs, discontent, insur- 
rections, rebellion, would inevitably ensue, until the 
incompatible parts would be broken asunder, and 
possibly, in the frightful struggle, our present glori- 
ous Union itself would be dissevered or dissolved. 
We ought not to forget the warning voice of all 
history, which teaches the difficulty of combining 
and consolidating together, conquering and con- 
quered nations. After the lapse of eight hundred 
years, during which the Moors held their conquest 
of Spain, tlie indomitable courage, perseverance 
and obstinacy of the Spanish race finally triumphed, 
and expelled the African invaders from the peninsula. 
And, even within our own time, the colossal power 
of Napoleon, when at its loftiest height, was incom- 
petent to subdue and subjugate the proud Castilian. 
And here in our own neighborhood. Lower Cana- 
da, which near one hundred years ago, after the 
conclusion of the seven years' war, was ceded bj' 
France to Great Britain, remains a foreign land in 
midst of the British provinces, foreign in feelings 
and attachment, and foreign in laws, language, and 
religion. And what has been the fact with poor, 
gallant, generous and oppressed Ireland ? Cen- 
turies have passed since the overbearing Saxon 
oven'un and subjugated the Emerald Isle. Rivers 
of Irish blood have flowed, during the long and 
arduous contest. Insurrection and rebellion have 
•been the order of the day ; and yet, up to this lime, 
Ireland remains alien in feeling, affection and sym- 
pathy, toward the power which has so long borne 
her down. Every Irishman hates, with a mortal 
hatred, his Saxon oppressor. Although there are 
great territorial difJerences between the condition 
of England and Ireland, as compared to that of the 
United States and Mexico, there are some points of 
striking resemblance between them. Both the Irish 
and the Me.'iicans are probably of the same Celtic race. 
Both the English and the Americans are of the 
same Saxon origin. The catholic religion predomi- 
nates in both the former, the protestant among both 
the latter. Religion has been the fruitful cause of 
dissatisfaction and di-scontent between the Irish and 
the English nations. — Is there no reason to appre- 
hend that it would become so between the people 
of the United States and those of Mexico, if they 
were united together? Why should we seek to 
interfere with them in their mode of worship of a 
common Savior ? We believe tliat they are wrong, 
especially in the exclusive character of their faith, 
and that we are right. They think that they are 
right and we wrong. What other rule can there be 
than to leave the followers of each religion to their 
own solemn convictions of conscientious duty tow- 
ard God? Wlio, but the great Arbiter of the Uni- 
verse, can judge' in such a question ? For my own 
part, I sincerely believe and liope, that those who 
belong to all the departments of the great church of 
JOhnai, if, in truth and purity, they conform to the 



doctrines which they profess, will ultimately secure 
an abode in those regions of bliss, which all aim 
finally to reach. I think that there is no potentate 
in Europe, whatever his religion may be, more en- 
lightened or at this moment so interesting as the lib- 
eral head of the papal see. 

" But I suppose it to be impossible that those who 
favor, if there be any who favor the annextion of 
Mexico to the United States, can think that it ought 
to be perpetually governed by military sway. Cer- 
tainly no votaiy of human liberty could deem it right 
that a violation should be perpetrated of the great 
principles of our own revolution, according to which, 
laws ought not to be enacted and taxes ought not to 
be levied, without representation on the part of 
those who are to obey the one, and pay the other. 
Then, Mexico is to participate in our councils and 
equally share in our legislation and government. 
But. suppose she would not voluutaril}- choose rep- 
resentatives to the national Congress, is our soldiery 
to follow the electors to the ballot-box, and by force 
to compel them, at the point of the bayonet, to de- 
posite their ballots ? And how are the nine millions 
of Mexican people to be represented in the Con- 
gress of the United States of America, and the Con- 
gress of the United States of the republic of Mexico 
combined ? Is every Mexican, without regard to 
color or caste, per capitum, to exercise the elective 
franchise ? How is the quota of representation be- 
tween the two republics, to be fixed ? ^Vllere is 
their seat of common government to be established ? 
— And who can foresee or foretell, if Mexico, volun- 
tarily or by force, were to share in the common 
government what could be the consequences to her 
or to us? Unprepared, as I fear her population yet 
is, for the practical enjoyment of self government, 
and of hahits, customs, language, laws and religion, 
,so totally different from our own. we should present 
the revolting spectacle of a confused, distracted, and 
motley government. We should have a Mexican 
party, a Pacific ocean party an Atlantic party, in 
addition to the other parties, which exist, or with 
which we are threatened, each striving to exe 
cute its own particular views and purposes, and 
reproaching the others with thwarting and disap- 
pointing them. The Mexican representation, in 
Congress, would probably form a separate and im 
penetrable corps, always ready to throw itself intc 
the scale of any other party, to advance and promote 
Mexican interests. Such a state of things could 
not long endure. Those, whom God and geography 
have pronounced .should live asunder, could nevei 
be permanently and harmoniously united together. 

" Do we want for our own happiness or greatness 
the addition of Mexico to the existing Union of our 
States ? If our population was too dense for our 
territory, and there was a difficulty in obtaining 
honorably the means of subsistence, there might be 
some excuse for an attempt to enlarge our dominions. 
But we have no such apology. We have already, 
in our glorious comitry, a vast and almost boundless 
tcrritoiy. Beginning at the north, in the frozen 
regions of the British "provinces, it stretches thousands 
of miles along the coasts of the Atlantic ocean and 
the Mexican gulf, until it almost reaches the tropics. 
It extends to the Pacific ocean, borders on those 
great inland seas, the lakes, which separate us from 
the possessions of Great Britain, and it embraces 
the great father of rivers, from its uppermost source 
to the Bali.se, and the .«till loiiger Missouri, from its 
mouth to the gorges of the Rocky mountains. It 
comprehends the greatest variety of the richest 
soils, capable of almost all the productions of the 
earth, except tea and coffee and the spice.s, and it 
includes every variety of climate, which the heart 
could wish or desire. We have more than ten 
I thousand millions of acres of waste and unsettled 
I lands, enough for the subsistence of ten or twenty 
j time? our present population. Ought we not to be 
I satisfied with such a country ?— Ought we not to be 
profoundly thankful to the Giver of all good things 



Mr. Clay's Speech and Resolutions at Lexington on the Mexican War. 



107 



for snch a vast and bountiful land ? Is it not the 
height of ingratitude to him to seek, by war and 
conquest, imlulging in a spirit of rapacity, to ac- 
quire other lands, the homes and habitations of a 
large portion of his common children? If we 
pursue the object of such a conquest, besides mort- 
gaging the revenue and resources of this country 
for ages to come, in the form of an onerous nation- 
al debt, we should have greatly to augment that 
debt, by an assumption of the sixty or seventy 
millions of the national debt of Mexico. For I take 
it that nothing is more certain than that, if we ob- 
tain voluntarily or by conquest a foreign nation, we 
acquire it witli all the incumbrances attached to it. 
In my humble opinion, we are now bound, in honor 
&nd morality, to pay the just debt of Texas. And 
we should be equally bound, by the same obligations, 
to pay the debt of Mexico if it were annexed to the 
United States." 

Upon the question of the extension of the system 
of negro slavery over newly-acquired territory, Mr. 
Clay spoke with that same ingenuousness which 
characterized his views on the slavery question, 
when, nearly fifty years ago, in Kcntuckj', he de- 
clared his belief that the proportion of slaves in com- 
parison with the whites was so inconsiderable, that 
a system of gradual emancipation, that would ulti- 
mately eradicate the evil, might be safely adopted. 
That system differed from the plan of immediate 
abolition for which the abolition party of the present 
day contend. That partj' had done incalculable 
mischief even to the very cause which they es- 
poused, to say nothing of the discord which they had 
produced between different parts of the country. 
Mr. Clay then alluded to the efforts of the American 
Colonization Society, of which he had been one of 
the principal founders. He then continued : 

" It may be argued that, in admitting the injustice 
of slaverj', I admit the necessity of an instantaneous 
reparation of that injustice. Unfortunately, how- 
ever, it is not alwaj's .safe, practicable, or possible, i 
in the great movements of states and public affairs 
of nations, to remedy or repair the infliction of pre- ! 
vious injustice. In the inception of it, we may op- 
pose and denounce it, by our most strenuous exer- 
tions,but,afteritsconsummation, there isoftennoother 
ultemative left us but to deplore its perpetration, and i 
to acquiesce, as the only alternative, in its existence, j 
as a less evil than the friglitful consequences which ' 
might en.sue from the vain endeavor to repair it. 
Slavery is one of tho.'^e unfortunate instances. The 
evil of it was inflicted upon us, by the parent coun- 
try of Great Britain, again.st all the entreaties and j 
remonstrances of the colonies. And here it is among j 
and amid us, and we must dispose of it as best we \ 
can under all the circumstances which surround us. 
It continued, by the importation of slaves from Af- | 
rica, in spite of colonial resistance, for a period of 
more than a century and a half, and it may require i 
an equal or longer lapse of time before our country [ 
is entirely rid of the evil. And, in the meantime, I 
moderation, prudence, and discretion, among our- | 
selves, and the blessings of Providence may be all ] 
necessary to accomplish our ultimate deliverance I 
from it. Examples of similar infliction of irrepara- ' 
ble national evil and injustice might be multiplied to ; 
an indefinite extent. The case of the annexation I 
of Texas to the United States is a recent and an ob- \ 
vious one, which, if it were wrong, it cannot now be 
repaired. Texas is now an integral part of our Un- 
ion, with its own voluntary consent. Many of us ; 
oppoi;ed the annexation with honest zeal and most ! 
earnest exertions. But who would now think of 
perpetrating the folly of casting Texas out of the 
confederacy, and throwing her Lack upon her own 
independence, or into the arms of Mexico ? Who 
would now seek to divorce her from this Union 1 \ 



The Creeks and the Cherokee Indians were, by the 
most exceptionable means, driven from their coun- 
try, and transported beyond the Mississippi river. 
Their lands have been fairly purchased and occu- 
pied by inhabitants of Georgia, Alabama, Mis.sissip- 
pi. and Tennessee. Who would now conceive the 
flagrant injustice of expelling those inhabitants and 
restoring the Indian country to the Chcrokoes and 
Creeks, under color of repairing original injustice ? 
During the war of our Revolution, millions of paper 
money were issued by our ancestors, as the only cur- 
rency with which they could achieve our liberties 
and independence. Thousands and hundreds of 
thousands of families wore stripped of their homCti 
and their all, and brought to ruin, by giving credit 
and confidence to that spurious currency. Stern ne- 
cessity lias prevented the reparation of that great na- 
tional injustice." 

The sentiments and the policy commended by Mr. 
Clay in this practical and eloquent speech were 
embodied in the following resolutions, which he 
read and submitted to the judgment of the meeting: 

" 1. Resolved, as the opinion of this meeting, that 
the primary cause of the present unhappy war, ex- 
isting between the United States of America and the 
United States of the Republic of Mexico, was the 
annexation of Te.xas to the former : and that the im- 
mediate occasion of hostilities between the two re- 
publics arose out of the order of the President of the 
United States for the removal of the army under the 
command of General Taylor, from its position at 
Corpus Christi, to a point opposite to Matamoras, on 
the east bank of the Rio Bravo, within territory 
claimed by both republics, but then under the juris- 
diction of that of Mexico, and inhabited by its citi- 
zens ; and that the order of the President for the re- 
moval of the army to that point was improvident and 
unconstitutional, it being without the concurrence of 
Congress, or even any consultation with it, although 
it was in session : but that Congress having, by sub- 
sequent acts, recognized the war thus brought into 
existence, without its previous authority or consent, 
the prosecution of it became thereby national. 

" 2. Resolved, That in the absence of any formal 
and public declaration by Congress of the objects for 
which the war ought to be pro.sccuted, the President 
of the United States, as chief magistrate, and as com- 
mander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United 
States, is left to the guidance of his own judgment 
to prosecute it for such purposes and objects as he 
may deem the honor and interest of the nation tore- 
quire. 

"3. Resolved, That by the con.stitution of the Uni- 
ted States, Congress, being invested with power to 
declare war, and grant letters of marque and repri- 
sal, to make rules concerning captures on land and 
water, to raise and support armies, to provide and 
maintain a navj-. and to make rules for the govern- 
ment of the land and naval forces, has the full and 
complete \var-making power of the United States ; 
and, so possessing it, has a right to determine upon 
the motives, cau.ses, and objects, of any war, when 
it commences, or at any time during the progress of 
its existence. 

"4. Resolved, as the further opinion of this meet- 
ing, that it is the right and duty of Congress to de- 
clare by some authentic act, for what purposes and 
objects the existing war ought to be further prose- 
cuted ; that it is the duty of the President in his offi- 
cial conduct to conform to such a declaration of Con- 
gress ; and that if after such declaration, the Presi- 
dent should decline or refuse to endeavor, by all the 
means, civil, diplomatic, and military, in his power, 
to execute rtie announced will of Congre.ss, and, in 
defiance of its authority, should continue to prose- 
cute the vvar for purposes and objects other than 
those declared bj' that body, it would become the 
right and duty of Congress to adopt the mo.st effica- 
cious measures to arrest the further progress of the 



308 



Life of Henry Clay. 



war, taking care to make ample provision for the | 
honor, the safety and security of our armies in Mex- 
ico, in every continijency. And. if Mexico should 
decline or rcfu.se to conclude a treaty witli u.s. stip- 
ulaliiig for the purpo.'ies and objects so declared by 
Congress, it would be tlift duty of the government 
to pro.secutc the war, with tiie utmost vigor, until 
they were attained by a treaty of peace. 

.'). •■ Resolved, Tliat we view with serious alarm, 
and are utterly opposed to any purpose of annex- 
ing Mexico to the United S;ates, in any mode, and 
especially by conquest ; that we believe the two 
nations could not be happily governed by one com- 
mon authority, owing to tbeir great difference of 
race, law, language and religion, and the vast ex- 
tent of their respective territories, and large amount 
of their respective population.s: that such a union, 
again.st the consent of the exasperated Mexican 
people, could only be effected and preserved by 
large standing armies, and the constant application 
of military force ; in other words, by despotic sway, 
e.xercised over the Mexican people in the first in- 
stance, but which there would be just cause to ap- 
prehend, miiiht in process of time be extended over 
the people of the United States. That we depre- 
cate, therefore, such a union, as wholly incompati- 
ble with the genius of our government, and with 
the character of free and liberal institutions; and 
we anxiously hope that each nation may be left in 
the undisturbed possession of its own laws, language, 
cherished religion and temtory, to pursue its own hap- 
piness according to what it may deem best for itself 

" 6. Resolved, That considering the series of 
splendid and brilliant victories achieved by our 
brave armies and their gallant commanders, during 
the war with Mexico, unattended by a single re- 
verse, the United States without any danger of their 
honor suffering the slightest tarnish, can practise 
the virtues of moderation and magnanimity toward 
their discomfited foe. We have no desire for the 
dismemberment of the United States of the republic 
of Mexico, but wish only a just and proper fixation 
of the limits of Texas. 

" 7. Resolved. That we do positively and em- 
phatically disclaim and disavow any wish or desire, 
on our part, to acquire any foreign territory what- 
ever, for the purpose of propagating slavery, or of 
introducing .slaves from the United States, into such 
foreign territory. 

" 8. Resolved, That we invite our fellow-citizens 
of the United States, who are anxious for the res- 
toration of the blessings of peace, or if the existing 
Vk'ar shall continue to be prosecuted, are desirous 
that its pur|)oses and objects shall be defined and 
known, who are anxious to avert present and future 
perils and dangers, with which it may be fraught, 
and who are also anxious to produce contentment 
and satisfaction at home, and to elevate the national 
character abroad, to assemble together in their re- 
spective communities and to express their views, 
feelings and opinions." 

The speech was often interrupted bj' bursts of ap- 
plause ; and both at its commencement and itsclose 
Mr. Clay was heartily cheered. The promulgation 
of its sentiments has been attended with the happi- 
est effects, not only at home in .shaping public opin- 
ion, but in Mexico in influencing her public men in 
the adoption of temperete and pacific counsels. " It 
is hardly possible," wrote one of the journalists of the 
day, " to overestimate the importance of this step." 

From the intelligent and the right-thinking through- 
out the country a response arose in favor of the sen- 
timents thus boldly announced. The necessity for 
such a " voice potential" at the critical time fa well 
told in the language of the address of the immense 
meeting which convened at the Tabernacle in New- 
York, the 20th ol December, 1817, to respond to the 
Lexington resolutions : 



" The spirit now dominant in the national coun- 
cils, and rampant throughout the land, not only mocks 
at gray hairs and tramples on the lessons of experi- 
ence, but regards with impatience and ill-disguised 
contempt every appeal to considerations of morality, 
philanthropy, or religion, in regard to the prosecu- 
tion or termination of the war. The fierce bay of 
the bloodhound on the warm track of his prey drowns 
the calm voice of reason and the soft pleadings of 
humanity. Who that realizes the moral accounta- 
bility of nations can doubt that we have fallen upon 
evil days ? 

" In this crisis a voice from the west reaches the 
ear and fixes the retjard of the American people. 
A venerable patriot, illustrious by forty years of emi- 
nent service in the national councils, emerges from 
his honored seclusion to address words of wise ad- 
monition to his fellow-citizens. That voice, which 
never counselled aught to dishonor or injure this 
Union, is lifted up, probably for the last time, in ex- 
posure of the specious pretexts on which this war 
was commenced, in reprehension of its character and 
objects, and in remonstrance against its further pros- 
ecution. At the sound of that impressive voice, the 
.scales of delusion fall from thousands of flashing eyea, 
the false glitter of the conqueror's glory vanishes, re- 
vealing the hideous lineaments of Carnage ; and the 
stern question which stung the first murderer is 
brought home esrsentially to every breast which en- 
folds a conscience : 'Where is thy brother?' — To 
what end do we despoil and slay our fellow-men 
guilty of being born two thousand miles southwest 
of us? By what Divine law are we authorized 
thus to deface and destroy the image of God ? 

" The great statesman of the west was too well 
acquainted with human nature, and had too much 
experience of its worst developments, to hope that 
such an appeal as he has made to the nation's moral 
sense would not be resented and resisted. He knew 
that exposed Depravity would pour out its vials of 
wrath on his devoted head ; that fell Rapacity would 
neglect for a moment its prey to tear him with its 
fangs ; and that Malice would stimulate Calumny to 
hunt and defame him through the length and breadth 
of the land. Calmly he bared his breast to the storm ; 
unflinchingly he contemplates its fiercest rage, its 
fnost dismal bowlings. Shielded in the panoply of 
an approving conscience and of the commendation 
of the wise and good throughout the world, he prof- 
fers no resistance, requires no sj'mpathy, solicits no 
aid. For himself he desires nothing ; for his imper- 
iled country he demands the services and the sacri- 
fices of all her upright and patriotic sons. 

•■' And his appeal has not been fruitless. On every 
side the people, aroused as by a trumpet blast, are 
awaking to a consciousness of their duty. No longer 
sunk in apathy because they can perceive no mode 
in which exertion can avail, they realize at last that 
every honorable means should be employed to arrest 
the work of carnage ; and they feel that, in view of 
the brilliant achievementsof our armies and the utter 
pro.stration of their foes, the honor of our country can 
best be preserved and exalted by the exercise of 
magnanimity toward the vanquished. The means 
of terminating the war have been clearly j)ointed out 
by him who is emphatically first in the affections 
and in the confidence of the American people, Hen- 
ry Clay ; and it needs but that their representatives 



Mr, Clay in Washington — Fits Address before the American Colonization Society. 109 



sball be faithful as he haa been foiirless to insure a 
speedy restoration of peace." 

The languai^c Bubsequeutly adopted at the meet- 
ing at Castle Garden— the largest meeting ever gath- 
ered in this country under one roof— wan: " Re- 
solved, That we regard the late speech of Mr. Clay 
at Lexington, in exposure of the causes, character, 
and objects, of the present war on Mexico, as among 
the noblest and most patriotic efforts of the great and 
true man, who ' would rather be right than be Pres- 
ident." ' ' 



CHAPTER XXViri. 

Mr. Clay in W.ishington— His Address before the Colo- 
nization Sociefy— His Appearance in the Supreme 
Court— He visits the ^Vl!ite-Hou?e— Anecdote— The 
Castle Garden Meeting— Death of Mr. Adams— Mr. 
Clay in Pliiladelphia, in New-York, &c. 

Early in the congressional session of 1847-'48, 
Mr. Clay 'was carried by professional business to 
Washington. His reception there was brilliant and 
hearty beyond measure. He had declined all pub- 
lic testimonials, but he could not evade the greetings 
which the people rose as one man to extend. " Mr. 
•Clay's personal popularity suffers no abatement," 
writes one. " He cannot move without having a 
throng at his heels. He lives in an atmosphere of 
hun-ahs." The character of bis journey to the seat 
of government may be told in his own language at 
the meeting of the American Colonization Society in 
Jannajy, 1848, in the hall of the House of Repre- 
sentatives : 

" I have just terminated," he said, " a journey of 
considerable length and arduousness, performed in 
mid-winter, and surrounded at every place where I 
have stopped by throngs of friends, leaving abso- 
lutely no leisure whatever for that preparation which 
ought always to be made before a man presents him- 
self to address so respectable and intelligent an au- 
dience as this. I come before you without a solitary 
note, and with very little mental preparation of any 
sort ; absolutely with no preparedness for an elabo- 
rate address.'" 

"We have already alluded to Mr. Clay's efforts in 
the cause of the Colonization Society. The report 
that he was to speak at their annual meeting called 
forth one of the largest assemblages ever convened 
in the Capitol. Every nook and corner in the hall 
of the House was crowded, and hundreds of anx- 
ious attendants were disappointed in obtaining ad- 
mission. Mr. Clay showed no abatement of intel- 
lectual vigor or patriotic ardor. Experience had 
fully demonstrated the wisdom of those view^ to 
which he had given utterance almost half a century 
before. Time had shown that his Colonization 
scheme, like his Protective policy, was founded in 
justice and benevolence, and bore in itself the germ 
of future blessings. It had been opposed by tbe ap- 
athy of southern advocates of slavery, and by the 
perverse hostility of northern professors of philan- 
thropy ; in the w^ords of Mr. Clay, " it had been sur- 
rounded by difficulties, and beset by enemies in front 



Mr. Clay alluded to the fact that about thirty years 
ago, the Rev. Dr. Finney, of New-Jersey, and oth- 
ers with him met in that hall, and consulted and 
agreed upon the great principles of the foundation 
of the society. Of that number Mr. Clay was one. 
At first they did not intend to do more than to estab- 
lish a colony on the coast of Africa to which the free 
people of color in the United States miglit voluntarily 
and with their own free consent, without the least 
restraint, coercion, or compulsion, proceed and en- 
joy untrammelled those social and political privi- 
leges which undel- the circum.stauces of the case 
they could not enjoy hero. The founders saw, what 
is now manifest in the countiy, that the people of 
color and the white race could not possibly live to- 
gether on terms of eQuality. They did not stop to 
inquire whether this state of things was right or 
wrong. They took the fact of impossibility for these 
two races to live together in equal social conditions, 
and proceeded to operate upon that fact, without re- 
gard to the question whether the fact arose from an 
unworthy prejudice, that should be expelled from 
our brea.'^ts, or whether it was an instinct for our gui- 
dance. The simple object was to demonstrate be- 
fore the world the practicability of establishing a 
colony of free blacks in Africa. 

Utopian and impracticable as the Colonizationists 
believed the purposes of the Abolition movement 
to be — to emancipate without a moment's delay the 
whole of the black race in the United States— they 
did not interfere with it in any way. Their object 
was to demonstrate the practicability of Colonization. 
Thct demonstration has been made. 

But it has been urged that this is the country of 
the black man, and therefore he should not be sent 
to Africa, which is not his country. In some sense, 
those blacks who have been born upon the soil may 
claim this for their country ; and so could the Israel- 
ites claim Egypt for their country, because during a 
long period of time they were captives in Egypt. 
So could all the Israelites born in the wilderness du- 
ring their progress from Egypt to the promised land, 
claim the wilderness for their country ; but still in 
contemplating the beam which guided the progress 
of that most remarkable of all the families of man, 
neither Egypt nor the wilderness, but Canaan, was 
their home, and to that home they were finally led. 
Who, then, can doubt, in a solitary instance, that 
Africa is the real home of the blacks, though they 
may have had a casual birth upon this continent ? 
And who can fail to see that native missionaries will 
be the most effective for the conversion of their Af- 
rican brethren, who are of the same blood with thera- 
se'.ves, and with whom they can completely harmo- 
nize in all their interests, sympathies, and affections ? 
At this moment there have been four or five thou- 
sand colonists sent to Africa, and we have heard 
that there are in the republic of Liberia twenty-five 
places of public worship, dedicated to the same Lord 
and Savior whom we worship, and that thousands 
of the natives are rushing into the colonies in order 
to obtain the benefits of Christian education and a 
knowledge of the arts. 
With regard to the argument that it is impossible 



and in rear, and on both flanks. The abolitionists to transport to Africa all the free people of color in 



have assailed it, as well as those of the opposite ex- 
treme." But in spite of ail obstacles, it has grown, 
as truth must ever grow, though slowly, yet surely. 



the United States, Mr. Clay remarked : " Why, gen- 
I tlemen, if I am not mistaken, there comes yearly 
I into the single port of New-Yorl; an immigratioa 



110 



Lift of Henry Clay, 



amounting almost to the annual increase of the pop- 
ulation in that city, and perhaps exceeding the 
annual increase of all the free people of color in the 
United States. And this is done voluntarily, upon 
the great motives of all human action. Thus, the 
German and Irish immigi-auts flock to our shores an- 
nually, with no inconsiderable aid on the part of 
their governments and with no individual aid, in num- 
bers equal perhaps to the annual increase of all the 
Africans in the United States, bond and free. These 
all come to our counti-y in obedience to one of the 
laws of our nature — in pursuance of the great con- 
trolling principle of human action, and which enters 
into all great enterprises : ihey come here to better 
their condition ; and I hope they will better their 
condition. And so it would be with all our free 
people of color. Were they to be transported from 
the United State.? to Africa, would not their condi- 
tion be physically, morally, socially, and politically, 
better and happier than anything which they could 
attain to or hope for here. It is in vain to attempt to 
eradicate the feeling which keeps asunder these two 
classes. It is in vain for the office of Philosophy or 
Humanity to attempt what is so utterly impractica- 
ble as joining together those whom God himself, by 
the difference of color and various other distinctions, 
perhaps, has declared ought to be separate. [Cheers.] 
Then, to send them to Africa — not by violence, not 
by coercion, not against their will, but with their 
own full consent — let me say to Abolitionists and to 
those on the other extreme — to all men — why should 
not the free colored race residing among us have 
the option to go to Africa or remain in the United 
States ?" 

Mr. Clay compared the growth of the colony of 
Liberia with that of Jamestown and Plymouth. The 
ravages of disease had been much less in the in- 
stance of the former. Its growth, too, had been en- 
couraging in comparison. It should be in this case 
as in all other settlements in new countries. There 
should be forerunners — pioneers — who will prepare 
the way, raise subsistence, build houses, make places 
of comfort and convenience for those who are to fol- 
low them ; otherwise they may be thrown upon the 
shores of the continent of Africa to suffer. Better to 
proceed according to the laws of Nature herself — 
slowly, surely, and so, carefully measuring every 
step that we take. 

Mr. Clay related a case illustrative of the increased 
rigor of the laws against tl:e black population in 
some States of the south, so that emancipation is 
prohibited. " In the State of Alabama, a respecta- 
ble and kind gentleman, whom I never saw in my 
life, devised to me in his will some twenty-five or 
thirty slaves, without any intimation as to the cause 
or motive of the bequest. I was surprised at this, 
but had some reason to believe, in consequence of 
ray connexion with this society, that the generous 
devisor had confidence in me. and that I would send 
them to Liberia. Accordingly I took measures to 
accomplish the object of their colonization, and have 
been happy to learn since I came to this city that 
twenty-three of them have actually embarked at the 
port of New-Orleans for that colony, and the remain- 
der will follow as soon as they are ready. Now, 
what would have been the condition of tliese poor 
creatures but for the existence of the Colonization 
Society ? They could not have been freed in Ala- 



bama, for the laws of that State prohibit emancipa- 
tion — in consequence, no doubt, of the imprudent 
agitation of this subject at the north. I had to take 
them to New-Orleans as my slaves, and they were 
regarded as my slaves until they got out of the juris- 
diction of the United States." 

Here, then, appears the object of the Colonization 
Society — that of aflfording individuals, as well as 
States who may have the control of free people of 
color and slaves which they may wish to emanci- 
pate, the opportunity of gratifying their wishes, by 
offering them a transportation to the shores of Africa. 
The Abolitionists, by their opposition to colonization, 
have but riveted more firmly the chains of slavery. 

" I would now implore all parties.'' said Mr. Clay 
in conclusion — " I would beseech the Abolitionists, 
and I would beseech all those who hold the doctrines 
of the opposite extreme, insisting upon the institution 
of slaverj' — I would beseech all men to look calmly 
and dispassionately at this great project which com- 
mends itself to their friendly consideration — I would 
beseech them to discard their prejudices, and ask 
them in the name of that God under whose smiling 
providence I verily believe this society has thus far 
been conducted and will in future continue, to look 
and contemplate for a moment this experiment of 
twenty-five years' continuance, which, without pow- 
er, without revenue, without any aid except what 
has been furnished by the charity of men, has carried 
on a war — not an aggressive, but a defensive war — 
and transported to Africa between five and six thou- 
sand emigrants from the United States. I would 
ask you to look at the territory which we have ac- 
quired : three hundred and tv^enty miles of coast on 
the west of Africa, and in every port of which the 
slave-trade has been suppressed !" 

Then there were the great objects of ciWlization — 
the benefits of the arts to be extended to the native 
Africans — the propagation of Christianity. " On, 
then, gentlemen— go on," said Mr. Clay—" in the 
name of the cause. I shall soon leave you and this 
theatre of action for ever ; but I trust that the spirit 
which led to the formation of this society will sur- 
vive me, and that, in other hands and under other 
auspices, this Colonization Society of ours may be 
still found asserting its sufficiency, in cooperation 
with the republic of Liberia, to transport to that re- 
gion every free person of color who may be disposed 
to go there, until, I trust, the separation of the two 
races shall be at last completed, and other genera- 
tions shall have sprung up to invoke— as in closing 
I now do— upon the noble cause of colonization the 
blessings of that God whose smile, I think, has been 
hitherto extended to it." 

Mr. Clay sat down amid peals of applause and 
the hearty approbation of his audience, if we may 
except a few ultraists of both sides. Indeed, as Mr. 
Clay always takes the rational, the practicable, the 
just, and the conservative view of affairs, ultraism 
of all kmds is generally found ranged among his op- 
ponents. 

The speech before the Colonization Society was 
followed, on the 11th of February, 1848, by his ap- 
pearance in the Supreme Court room as one of the 
counsel in the case of Wiffiam Houston and others 
versvs the City Bank of New- Orleans. " At an eai-ly 
hour," says a correspondent, " tlie avenues leading 
to the Capitol were thronged with crowds of the 



Mr. Clay's Jppearance before the Supreme Court— He visits the While-House. 1^ 



aged and young, the beautiful and gay, all anxious 
to hear— perhaps for the last time— the voice of the 
sage of, Ashland. On no former occasion was the 
Supreme Court so densely packed— every inch of 
space was occupied, even to the lobbies leading to 
the Senate. Mr. Clay rose a few minutes after 
eleven o'clock, the hour at which the court is organ- 
ized. It has been often said, and truly, that he never 
was and never could be reported successfully. His 
magic manner, the captivating tones of his voice, and 
a natural grace., singular in its influence and pecu- 
liarly his own. can never be transferred to paper. 
To realize their charms, he must be seen and heard. 
His exordium was in every way becoming and ap- 
propriate. He referred with feeling to the first time 
on which he appeared before that tribunal— not one 
of those who then occupied seats on the bench re- 
mained. But it was a grateful reflection, that amid 
all the political shocks to which the country had 
been subjected, the Supreme Court had maintained 
its elevated name, its dignity, and its purity, un- 
touched and unsuspected. He then proceeded to 
tlie argument of the cause. By the common consent 
of the court and the immense and enlightened au- 
dience, comprising some of the foremost minds of 
the nation, Mr. Clay exhibited as much vigor of in- 
tellect, clearness of elucidation, power of logic, and 
legal analysis and research, as he ever did in bis 
palmiest days. Much was expected from him, but 
he more than realized every expectation. It was 
no display of oratorical powers, but a sound and 
strict argument, adapted to the cause and to the 
court.'" 

" In his exordium." says another of his hearers, 
" we discern a subjective beauty, and a fitness to the 
peculiarity of the occasion, which rendered it emi- 
nently impressive. Involving, as it did, affecting 
recollections of the past, as contrasted with the pres- 
ent, it had in it a quality of tenderness, rendered 
more intense by the mellow tones of that wonderful 
and variable voice which Mr. Clay possesses, and 
which, however firm for a septuagenarian, is begin- 
ning to be touched with the tremulousness of age. 
The fact to which he alluded was, that he was now 
before an entire new bench of Judges, as compared 
with that in whose presence he years ago made his 
first legal argument. A striking fact ! reminding the 
aged and venerable advocate of his own decline, 
and the Judges of their hastening destiny." 

Changing the tone of his remarks, Mr. Clay re- 
plied to the gentleman, the Hon. John Sergeant, 
of rhiladelphia, who had complained of the speed 
which had characterized tlie proceedings of counsel 
for the plaintiffs. Mr. Clay advocated the impor- 
tance of making honorable hastp in aU legal matters, 
and, in this connexion, described the following 
scene : 

" I happened, some years ago, in the performance 
of a public service, to be abroad in England, and 
1 occasionally attended both houses of Parliament, 
and the courts in Westminster hall. Sir, if in con- 
templating those great assemblies, and those learned 
tribunals, I had anything to regret, upon a com- 
parison between them and our own, of what I have 
witnes.sed when in that country, it was not that 
there was less eloquence or less ability displayed, 
either in Parliament, when great and momentous 
subjects were brought before that body, but that 
there was a greater economy of time. The speak- 
ers there would begin with their subject, and -yvould 



end when the subject was exhausted. But, sir, 
when I went into either apartment of Westminster 
hall, where I attended, as I did once or twice, the 
court silting in bank, 1 was there impressed elill 
more with the economy of the despatch of busi- 
ness. 

" I entered the court room. I remember, very early 
one movning. Their lordships, the judges, were 
clothed with the gowns like your honors, but that 
was the only analogy between your honors and 
them, for they wore, also, their flowing wigs, falling 
upon their shoulders. W^hile there, there wtjre no 
sparkling eyes, no bewitching smiles, no female 
forms ; the whole room — and I think, may it please 
your honors, it was not larger than the half of this — 
contained only the judges and officers of the court; 
and a host of gentlemen of the legal profession. 
Upon the first seats the elder members of the bar, 
the sergeants at law ; and upon the seats behind, 
the other members of the bar, all clothed in black 
gowns. Well, after the tip staff had pronounced 
the introductory ' God save the king,' his lordship 
asked the oldest sergeant, ' Have you any motion to 
make V — ' Yes, please your lordship ; I have a 
case in which I wish to establish this point,' naming 
the point. ' Why,' said his lordship, ' you cannot 
maintain that.' — 'But,' .said the sergeant. "I only 
wish to quote a few authorities.' — • It is of no use,' 
said his lordship, turning to his notes, • the proposi- 
tion cannot be maintained ;' and the same observa- 
tion was echoed along the line of judges, and the 
case was dismissed in less lime than it takes me to- 
describe the incident." 

Mr. Clay insisted upon the importance of speed in 
legal matters, and created a laugh, even among the 
honorable judges, by speaking of a certain tradition 
illustrating the length of speeches which are said to 
have been made by PkiladelpMa lawyers. He did 
not mean to convey die idea that the lawyers of the 
brotherly city were not learned and highly honora- 
ble men, for he remembered with the greatest 
respect the Dallases, the Lewises, and the Ingersolls 
of that city ; but he did mean to say that they had 
a passion for long speeches. With regard to the 
delays which occurred in our courts of justice, he 
thought the lawyers themselves were generally at 
fault, though it was sometimes the case that the 
judges were not quite as prompt as they might be. 
He spoke of the one-hour rule which prevailed in 
another chamber of the Capitol, and suggested that 
the present court might gather therefrom a s^utary 
lesson. 

At this stage of his remarks, Mr. Clay entered 
upon a statement of the case under consideration ; 
and his argument is represented to have been 
'■ brilliant in the extreme, sound, graphic, clear, and 
persuasive ; while his voice and manners were more 
like those of a lawyer in the early prime of life than 
of a patriarch in his profession." 

During his sojourn in Washington, Mr. Clay 
dined on one occasion with Mr. Polk. "It is like- 
ly," writes a correspondent, " you have heard of hia 
remark to Mrs. Polk. He observed with infinite 
grace, that he had never heard of anybody who com- 
plained in the least of lier administration, though he 
had occasionally heard some complaint of her hus- 
band's. What a primrose path is Mr. Clay's ! 
Clothe him never with ' saddest cypress.' Let the 
almond and myrtle wave over his grave !" 

The fourth Monday in May, and the 7tb of Jane, 
having been fixed upon by the administration party 
and the whigs respectively for their conventions for 
the uoaaination of presidential candidates, meetings 



J 12 Life of Henry Clay. 

oegaji to be lield throughout the country, at which 
etroiig preferences for Mr. Clay were enthusiastically 
expressed. Many good Whigs thought it more ex- 
pedient to put up General Taylor; and discussions, 
which the future only could decide were entered 
upon, generally with candor and in a good spirit. 
New York proclaimed herself for Clay in a mass 
meeting at Caslle Garden, believed to be not less 
than ten thousand strong. "But its numbers," said 
the Tribune, " vast as they were, were but a single 
element of this immense meeting. In character, in- 
telligence, order, and dignity, we doubt whether an 
assemblage more deserving of respect was ever 
seen. Although the deep and ardent enthusiasm 
for Clay would frequently burst out in cheers like 
thunder-peals, especially at every allusion to our 
great leader's name, yet no word (that u-e. heard) 
was uttered or sentiment evinced disrespectful to 
his rivals, and when Mr. White spoke of General 
Taylor as a gallant and able commander, the expres- 
sion was warmly responded to, despite the unanimous 
feeling that Henry Clay was the man for president. 
Of course, when Mr. Clay's name first occurred in 
the address, there were such demonstrations of de- 
light as only failed to bring down the roof above us, 
and the allusion to his Lexington speech was re- 
ceived with hardly less enthusiasm. The resolution 
pledging the Whigs of New York to abide and sus- 
tain the choice of the Whig national convention 
was most heartily responded to. And when Mr. 
Selden appealed to all present, and especially to the 
reporters, to say whether they ever saw a larger, 
more unanimous, more enthusiastic meeting, he call- 
ed attention to a truth which not even the most 
inveterate adversary could venture to gainsay." 

We wish we could give at length the proceed- 
ings of this animated meeting. But our limits forbid. 
Henry Grinnell, Esq., presided, and N. B. Blunt, 
Esq.. presented the address and resolutions. From 
the former, we make the following fragmentary 
quotations : 

" Mexico lies bleeding and prostrate at our feet. 
Our national honor, if ever assailed, has been fully 



wisdom all may rely. We. therefore, the Whigs of 
New York, do hereby nominate and do earnestly 
recommend to the Whigs of the Union, Henry Clay, 
as our candidate for President of the Umteu 
States." 

The Hon. Joseph L. White, the Hon. Dudley 
Selden, and Horace Greeley, Esq., addressed the 
meeting in eloquent and appropriate terms. " I be- 
lieve," said Mr. Greeley, " that in the last election 
we could not have been beaten but for the unfor- 
tunate panic which broke out among our fellow- 
citizens of foreign birth, who feared that if the Whigs 
should succeed they would be disfranchised, and 
even forbidden to live on this soil. The election of 
James K. Polk was thus efl'ected by fair votes and 
foul. Now, fellow-citizens, one month before or af- 
ter the election, Mr. Polk could not have been elected, 
and he or somebody not unlike him will be the can- 
didate opposed to us again. Under these circum- 
stances Mr. Clay is the proper exponent of our 
principles and candidate of our party ; he is the 
man who would have prevented the annexation of 
Texas and the war with Mexico; he is the man 
who was defrauded out of his election before. Now 
let the people have an opportunity to retrieve their 
error; and I believe they will rush to his standard 
with unexampled enthusiasm. Let the W^hig ban- 
ner float with the name of our tried and loved leader 
inscribed upon it, and I am confident that it will be 
borne onward to a signal and beneficent triumph." 

A letter from the Hon. John M. Botts of Virginia, 
addressed to the editor of the Richmond \Vhig, 
was read at this meeting and published with the 
proceedings. The following extracts, illustrating 
as they do the conflict in sentiment among whiga 
previous to the election of 1848, will be read with 
interest in connexion with the political' histoiy of 
Mr. Clay : 

" If General Taylor is a ' no party candidate,'' 
which is the only position he has yet assumed, then 
1 am not of his party, for I am a parti/ man, and that 
party is the Whig party. I have nothing to ask, and 
I want nothing, of Mr. Clay or General Taylor, or 
any other executive, and I will not do, what I would 



vindicated. Vengeance has been sated with blood regard as a surrender of my principles, to make 

any man president; and, therefore, I cannot ad- 
vocate the nomination of a gentleman who has never 
filled a political position, who comes fresh from the 
tented field, heralded only by his military achieve- 
ments, and whose political views are carefully con- 
cealed as well from his friends as his opponents. 

" Let me ask one question : if General Taylor is 
elected as a 'no party' candidate, will he prove a 
' no party' president ? If he should, then he will 
not suit me or any other Whig. If not, would he 
not disappoint those who elected him ? If a majori- 
ty of the people are so dissatisfied with the princi- 
ples and measures of both the great parties of this 
country as to elect a president belonging to neither, 
could he select a Whig cabinet and adopt Whig 
measures without a betrayal of the trust confided to 
him by tho.se who elected" him ? — or, in other words, 
if he is elected upon the ground that he will not 
avow himself a Whig and commit himself to Whig 
policy, would he not be as fully Juslilied in selecting 
a LocoFoco as a Whig cabinet— and in adopting 
Loco-Foco as Whig policy ? 

•• I have reason to believe Mr. Clay has lost no 
strength in those stales that he carried in 1844, and 
that he is greatly strengthened in many that he then 
lost — especially in New York, which our friends 
assure us is beyond the pos.sibility of a doubt— to say 
nothing of New Hamp.-hire (of which many of our 
frieads are conlidcut), Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, 



and carnage. We can at least afford to be mag- 
nanimous. For what purpose — to what end — is the 
war to be further prosecuted ? If for conquest : 
we deny the right to continue the war for such a 
purpose. If for indemnity: it has already been 
tendered. The truth is, stripped of all fal.se coloring, 
the war has assumed a new and distinct form. 
Territory — the extension of the so-called ' area of 
freedom,' — a rapacious spirit of plunder — the spolia- 
tion of a weak and fallen enemy — constitute the sole 
grounds for a further continuance of the conflict. It 
can and must be terminated. Human blood must 
cease to flow. The cause of hunianit\-, the honor 
of the country, the welfare of the people, justice and 
religion, imperatively demand that the contest should 
end. * * * First and foremost among the many 
true patriots and statesmen who have raised their 
voices and interposed their exertions to stem this 
flood of injustice and to restore the current of public 
opinion to its wonted channel, stands the name of 
Henrv Clay, of Kentucky. He needs no eulogium 
at our hands — his deeds arc written in the chronicles 
of his country's glory. Pre eminent as he has been 
in the cabinet, in the halls of legislation, and the 
field of diplomacy — the moral courage, the selfde- 
voiion, and the cahn sagacity, displayed in hi.i mem- 
orable fl;>eech at Lexington, form the crowning act 
in u life well spent in the service of his country, and 
d'isignalc him as the man uiou whose counsels aud 



Great Mcetins; at Castle Garden— Death of Mr. Adams — Mr. Clay in Philadelphia. 113 



together with Pennsylvania, which may be carried 
by selecting a suitable man to place on his ticket — 
say either Scott or Clayton. With tliese views, I 
shall do as I believe my constituents would do. not 
give him up for any man of doubtful principles 
and of more doubtful siic(!ess. 

" When I say I feel confident that Mr. ('lay can 
be elected, I know I shall be answered — 'so yon. 
thought in '14.' True, I did — so did we all ; but 
that is no reason we sliould be deceived again — it 
is, on the contrary, the best reason why we should 
not be. I am only rendered the more cautious in 
my calculations by that unexpected and disastrous 
defeat. 

" He will not only vof. have the catholic excite- 
ment, the foreign influence, the Native American 
party, the annexation of Texas, &c., itc., to op- 
erate against him. but they will all work in his 
favor, and most of all. this wicked and horrible war, 
and the ruinous condition of the country, which will 
be plainly spread before eviery man's eyes before the 
election comes on, will swell his triumph, in my be- 
lief, beyond all calculation that his most sanguine 
friends have yet made — and if the W^hig party are 
sincere in their expression of preference for him, 
my advice to them is, to hold on to him as their only 
sheet-anchor, for the conservative principles of 
Whiggery. 

" At all events, let us await the action of a Na- 
tional Convention. It will be time enough for us 
who prefer him, to give up Mr. Clay, when the Whigs 
of the Nation, in grand council assembled, shall 
recommend General Taylor to us as a proper and 
more available candidate." 

What gave added interest to the great Castle 
Garden meeting was the fact that it was held on the 
anniversary of the day when the news of the treaty 
of Ghent was received at New York. Thirty-three 
years before the British sloop of war Bramble had 
come into the bay, and "just as twilight was 
deepening into darkness, a pilot boat came up to 
Whitehall announcing her arrival with the tidings 
that Peace had been made at Ghent by Henry 
Clay and his associates in that memorable com- 
mission." 

On Monday, the 22d of February, at half past one 
o'clock, the venerable John Quincy Adams, then in 
his eighty-first year, while in his seat in the House 
of Representatives, was stricken down by paralysis, 
and borne to the Speaker's room in the Capitol. It 
had been the earnest wish of his heart lo die like 
Chatham in the midst of his labors, and that wish 
was accomplished literally. " This is the last of 
earth — I am content !" was the last memorable sen- 
tence that he uttered. The expiring statesman was 
placed on a cot bed, with his head toward the west. 
In this condition, breathing calmly, except at inter- 
vals, and manifestiag no signs of pain, he lingered, 
for the most part insensible, for fifty-four hours. 
While he lay in this state Mr. Clay visited him. and 
for some minutes held the hand of his speechless and 
unconscious friend in silent grief Look at that 
spectacle, ye who still attach any credit to the vile 
slander against those two uoble.st Americans, that 
there was a huckstering bargain between them for 
the sale of the Presidency ! Clay takes the hand 
of the dying Adams— of the mighty man and the an- 
cient, the eloquent counsellor, the incorruptible pa- 
triot, the laborious and brave-hearted statesman, the 
truly honest man! Who can doubt, that could he 
have spoken, the "old man eloquent" would have 
said of those charges against Mr. Clay, as he said of 
them in 1843 : " Aa I expect shortly to appear be- 



fore my God to answer for the conduct of my whole 
life, should those charges have found their way to 
the throne of eternal justice, I will, in the presence 
of Omnipotence, pronounce them false !"* 

The physician had told Mr. Clay that Mr. Adams 
might linger for a week or more. Mr. Clay had pro- 
fessional business in Philadelphia, which claimed his 
early attention. His friends, too, had made arrange- 
ments for his reception. Thousands, who had been 
expecting him, would be awaiting him on his way. 
Under these circumstances he did not feel justified 
in disappointing public expectation. Two hours af- 
ter his departure from Washington, Mr. Adams died ; 
but it was not till he was on his journey from Balti- 
more to Philadelphia that Mr. Clay received the sad 
intelligence. 

He arrived at Baltimore the evening of the 24th, 
and was received at the railroad-depot by an im- 
mense crowd. Arrived at the residence of his friend 
Christopher Hughes, the crowd, which had followed 
on, congregated in front of the dwelling, and, amid 
constant and loud cheers, called for Mr. Clay to make 
his appearance. After a short delay an upper win- 
dow was thrown open, and Mr. Clay made his ap- 
pearance, greeted by tremendous cheering. When 
silence was with difficulty restored, he said — 

■' Gentlemen, I want to know what you are ma- 
king all this noise about." 

"We wanted to see you," and loud cheers, was 
the response. 

A voice in the crowd. — " You are that same old 
coon yet I" 

Mr. Clay.-^" Exactly : I am that same old coon." 
Loud cheers again, and laughter. 

Mr. Clay. — '■ Gentlemen, now I will make a com- 
promise with you : if you will let me alone, I will 
let you alone !" 

He here withdrew amid the most vociferous cheer- 
ing, the window was closed, and the crowd with- 
drew. 

Early the next morning Mr. Clay started for Phil- 
adelphia, where his reception was again as cordial 
and brilliant as the most extensive popular enthusi- 
asm could make it. He here became the guest of 
the Mayor, Mr. Swift. " You are tlie most unrea- 
sonable set of people I ever met !" said Mr. Clay to 
the immense concourse which gathered in front of 
the house in the hope of getting a speech from him. 
" You want something to come out of my mouth, and 
I want to put something into it. [Laughter.] Will 
you agree with me on one point — that is, to go home 
and gel your suppers, and let me get my dinner?"' 
[Cheers and laughter.] The crowd then dispersed, 
after giving " three times three" for Henry Clay! 

At a public reception meeting the ensuing Satur- 
day at Independence Hall, Mr. Clay remarked that, 
" but for the loss that the country has just sustained 
in the decease of Mr. Adams, this would have been 
one of the happiest occasions of his life. As it was, 
the loss of the purest of patriots and best of men had 
caused a sensation of grief to pervade the whole 
country ; and how much greater than those of others 
mu.st be the feelings of one who had been closely 
connected with him, in both public and private life 
— who had ever found him, at all times and under all 
circumstances, the pui-e and elevated patriot — the 
tried, the faithful friend, the wise and good man ! 
* Quoted on page 40. 



114 



ii/ie of Henry Clay. 



The I0B8 was heavy to all, but to none more so than 
the speaker. His heart was so sarcharged with the 
emotions natural to the loss, that he could make no 
set speech ; yet he could not avoid referring to the 
sad event." 

Mr. Clay's visit to Philadelphia was connected 
with professional business in the .settlement of a 
large estate, of which he was left the execalor by a 
former resident of that city, who died some years be- 
fore in Indiana. But being so near New- York, he 
could not v/ell decline the pressing and unaniniou.s 
invitation of her Common Council to pay tbeni a visit 
as the city's guest. He left for New-York the Vth 
of March, encountering there and everywhere the 
same hearty reception which he had before so often 
experienced. 

The following account of Mr. Clay's reception by 
the Corporation of Nev/-York, and of his visit in the 
city, was originally published in " The New-Yoil^ 
Daily Tribune," from which it is here taken, with 
slight alterations. The reception took place on 
Tuesday, March 7, 1843. The Tribune says: 

A more brilliant day for the ceremonies attendant 
upon the visit of Henry Clay to our city could not 
have been desired. The air was clear and elastic, 
the skies bright, and the waters of the bay as smooth 
as in summer. Nature seemed to have decked her- 
self in holyday attire to welcome the illu-stiious 
statesman to the commercial metropolis of the Union. 
The splendid and spacious steamer " C. Vander- 
bilt" had been kindly placed at the disposal of the 
Common Council by Captain Vanderbiit for the oc- 
casion. She had been newly painted and refitted 
for the season just commencing, and, by her beauty 
and the convenience of her arrangements, was well 
adapted for the service to which she was now ap- 
propriated. 

The committee having in charge the duty of meet- 
ing Mr. Clay at Amboy and conducting him to the 
city, had contemplated being accompanied by some 
two hundred invited guests ; but so great was the 
desire to see the city's illustrious visiter, that at least 
six hundred persons obtained tickets, and only the 
impossibility of making room for a larger nnmber pre- 
vented a much more crowded attendance. Among 
those present were the members of the Common 
Council and many eminent citizens in both public 
and private life. All seemed iilled with that enthu- 
siastic attachment to Mr. Clay which he, of all men, 
has the power of calling forth and securing. As the 
" Vanderbiit" put off, she was loudly cheered by the 
multitude assembled on the wharf, and the passen- 
gers of one or two boats that she met in the passage 
down the bay manifested the same sj-mpathy in the 
purpose of the excursion. 

The boat arrived at Amboy at about half-past 
eleven o'clock, and, as soon as the cars arrived, the 
committee proceeded on shore to receive Mr. Clay, 
-with the Philadelphia delegation, and escort him on 
board. When he appeared, the air was rent with 
shouts, which were repeated as he passed amid the 
crowd, quietly bowing his response to the warm ex- 
pressions of those around him. He appeared in ex- 
cellent health, and bore liimself erect with all the 
vigor of a young man. His form has lo.<t little of its 
apparent strength, and his features retain the same 
manly and noble graciouBness which so truly express 



the character of the man. He was conducted to the 
upper saloon of the " Vanderbiit." where Mortoa 
M'Michael, Esq., on behalf of the Philadelphia com- 
mittee, resigned him into the care of our city coun- ' 
cil in the following address : 

'• Mr. President : The committee which speaks 
through me have come hither in the behalf of the 
people of Philadelphia, to transfer to your care the 
illustrious citizen who for some days past has been 
our honored guest. He came among us in no pub- 
lic capacity and on no public mission, not expecting 
any of the gratifications and enjoyments which there 
may be in loud and earne.st expressions of the gen- 
eral regard. He came, rather anxious to avoid all 
ceremony and parade, and desiring only to meet his 
old familiar friends in the old familiar way. In thiff 
desire, it is scarely necessary for me to say, it was 
iuipos.sible that he should be gratified. All hearts 
spontaneously rebelled against such a purpose. The 
wiiole people of Philadelphia, animated by one com- 
mon impulse of affection, poured ibrth into the street.s, 
thronged the roofs and windows of the houses, till 
they presented such a spectacle as was never seen 
before : 

' You would have Uiouglit the very windows spoke — 
So many greedy looks of young and old 
Darted through ca.sem(;Dts tlieir desuiug eyes 
Upon his visage : and that all the walls, 
Painted with imagery, had said aloud, 
•• Jesu preserve thee— welcome Hexby Clay !" ' 

" So it was the next day, so it was all the days 
that he was among us. So constant, so tireless, so 
enthusiastic, were the well meant kindnesses of our 
people, that I for one was afraid that the object of 
them would be totally overwhelmed and exhausted. 
Those overflowing marks of love were such, indeed, 
as few but Henry Clay could have elicited; nay, 
they were such as hardly anj', save himself, could 
have endured. They came, too, from deeper feel- 
ings than party motives : they sprang from those 
beautiful instincts of our spiritual nature which 
prompt admiration for whatever is truly great, and 
noble, and exalted, in man ! They showed that 
men love and reverence Uiose w^ho lift themselves 
above the meanness and narrowness to which less 
gifted and elevated natures arc prone, and showed 
that in so doing all must deeply and truly love and 
reverence Henry Claj'. Yes, reverence him as one 
whose tongue was never tainted with falsehood, nor 
his soul stained with shame ! 

" Nor vvas it the members of his own party alone 
who thus arose to do him honor, but the members of 
all parties. All looked to him — ail turned to him — 
all were irresistibly drav/n to him, as to one before 
whom Nature herself could stand up and say to all 
the world, ' This is a man I' 

" We should feel a deep pain in thus separating 
from one we so love ; but under a view of the cor- 
dial invitation which you have extended to him, and 
the general desire of all your citizens to have him 
among yoa, we feel that you are entitled to some 
portion of that pleasure which his presence every- 
where bestows. We resign him to you in full con- 
fidence tliat you will welcome him as no man could 
be welcomed but Henry Clay ! ' 

Mr. M'Michael's speech was inten-upted by fre- 
quent applause, and was warmly responded to at 
the close. 

When silence was restored, Hon. Morris Frank- 
lin, President of the Board of Aldermen, turned to 
Mr. Clay and addre.ssed him as follows : 

" On behalf of the Common Council of our City 
and of the assembled thousands, who are now 
awaiting your arrival in an.>:ious expectation, 1 am 
the honored in.sti-unient of tendering you a sincere 
and cordial welceme to their hospitality, and to as- 
sure you of a warm and heartl'elt reception in the 



Alderman Franklin's Address to Mr. Clay— Mr. Clay's Reply. 



115 



commercial metropolis of our country. For in the 
anticipation of this, yonr visit, every soctionnl preju- 
dice has been forgotten, and w^e are united an the 
heart of one man in extend ins: the right hand of 
fellowship to 60 distinguished and ilhif-trious a 
stranger. You have come among us, sir, not with 
the gilded trappings of military splendor or the bugle 
notes of a victorious chieftain ; vviih no public patron- 
age with v^-hich to reward yonr followers, but mere- 
ly as a private citizen — yet wearing upon your 
brow as proud a civic wreath as could be entwined 
by the aflbctions of the American people for one 
of their iiobli^st and most honored sons. It i.s there- 
fore, in the sincerity of our hearts, that we anticipate 
with pleasure the opportunity which you have af- 
forded us of presenting to our constituents one 
whom ail will delight to honor, who in the enthu- 
siasm of their feelings will hail with pleasure that 
hour when j-oa shall have become their welcome 
and their honored guest, and they shall have seen 
the person and heard the voice of him who for 
so many years has been as.sociated in their recol- 
lections w'ith the darkest and briglitest days of our 
country's history. For whether at foreign courts, 
in the domestic cabinet, or in the halls of legislation. 
your services will ever be appreciated by a grateful 
and confiding people, and when this age, with all 
its partialities and prejudices, shall have passed 
away, and the future historian shall sketch a faithful 
picture of the past, your name will appear in bold 
relief among its noblest and purest sous. 

" We the more fully appreciate this visit, sir, 
because we know that you have yielded to our in- 
vitation, not to gratify any ambition of your own, 
or to build up or establish present or posthumous 
fame, but to gratify the people of our own city, and 
to respond to the wish unanimously expressed, that 
once again they might be permitted to welcome as 
their guest the statesman whom they honor and the 
citizen whom they love. For had you consulted 
only your own feelings, or the dictates of your own 
judgment, you would have avoided the multitude 
\vhich you are about to encounter. Sir, we are an 
enthusiastic people, and while we shall endeavor 
to consult your wishes so as to render your visit 
pleasant and agreeable, yet it would be too much 
for us to promise or you to expect, that quiet and 
repose which we know you desire and which three 
score j'ears and ten demand. As well might we 
undertake to lull tlie raging tempest, and say to the 
winds, 'be still !' as to control the excitement of our 
people when the sage of Ashland treads upon their 
soil and walks within their midst. Bat we can and 
do commend you to Him who controls the destinies 
of nations, to protect you as in the hollow of his 
hand while absent from your home, and again 
restore you to those domestic associations within 
the family circle — alas, eo recently reduced ! In 
retrospecting upon the past, or looking forward to 
the future, you may realize the fact that however 
situated, whether upon the classic shores of Greece 
or among the republics of South America, whether 
pleading the cause of dismembered Poland, or op- 
pressed and unhappy Ireland, the name of Henry 
Clay will remain as a monument of devoted pa- 
triotism, from which we and our children may de- 
rive lessons of instruction worthy of the philan- 
thropist and the scholar, the statesman and the 
man ! Again we welcome you on board this noble 
steamer ; the mayor will respond to it upon our 
arrival, and all the people will join in one har- 
monious shout of • Welcome ! welcome to our 
homes I' " 

When President Franklin had concluded, Mr. 
Clay replied as follows : 

" Mr. President and Gentlemen of ike Council of 
New York : I thank you most heartily for this in- 
teresting occasion, and thank you, sir, for the senti- 
ments which you have done me the honor of ex- 
preBsing. 1 yviah that I could find language to 



convey to you the feeling and the gratitude with 
which the very cordial and flattering manner of this 
reception is received. But thfl truth i.s, and I might 
as well own it, that if I ever bad any great talent 
at public speaking, elocution or eloquence, it can- 
not now be exerted, and for two reasons : one is 
that my heart is full, and the other that I am my- 
self the subject. And if ever 1 have exerted any 
power of eloquence it has not been for myself but 
for my country. [Loud applause.] 

" You have correctly stated it, Mr. President, 
that this visit was not in accordance with my own 
wishes. When I left my own residence I was 
anxious to avoid all public ceremony. Purely pri- 
vate and professional business brought me to Wash- 
ington and Pl!ihidi-I])hia, whence I hoped to return 
without any further manifestations on the part of my 
fellow-citizens than the quiet expression of private 
regard and of personal attachment. But I was met 
by a different desire on the part of those whose 
hearty wi.sh I would not refuse, and I have found 
it impossible to confine myself to the humble course 
I had marked out. And when I recollected the 
many obligations which I was under to your city, 
the pleasure I had derived from former visits to it, 
and the generous impulse which called me hither ; 
when I heard that party spirit was all laid aside 
and sectional differences suspended, and above all 
when I was summoned by the authority of the pub- 
lic council, I felt constrained not to reject so warm 
and courteous an invitation. The cold and cautious 
suggestions of the head yielded to the natural im- 
pulse of the heart and I came. 

" I hope, sir, to have frequent opportunities of 
meeting with yourself and your associates daring 
my short visit in your city. 

" But I cannot part with the committee who have 
so kindly accompanied me from Philadelphia with- 
out some attempt at an expression of my thanks 
and gratitude, not only for the friendly manifesta- 
tion which we liave just heard from their chair- 
man, and for their discharge of the generous office 
which is now concluded, but for all that it has been 
my fortune and happiness to experience while in 
that city. Sir, the orator and organ of that commit- 
tee has not too glowingly and eloquently depicted 
the circamstances attendant upon my reception in 
the city of brotherly love. I have several times 
been there, and have received many tokens of 
friendship, confidence, and fidelity, at the bands of 
the people. But never was I so welcomed as on 
this occasion. Never did I receive from any comr 
munity so many proofs of generous and touching 
affection. It seemed indeed as if the whole city 
had come forth to greet me — as if all the houses had 
di.scharged themselves into the streets to make 
toward the visiter every possible manifestation of 
generous hospitality, esteem and regard. And this, 
sir, was not from one party, but from all parties — 
not from a single sex, but from both sexes — not 
from persons of one age, but from all ages, and in- 
deed, if I may be allowed to say so, from persons of 
all colors, that I saw during my stay in the city.. 
[Applause.] 

•' Yes, gentlemen, carry back my warmest thantii- 
to the whole population of your city ! Tell them 
that I feel intensely the countless proofs which they 
have given me of their affection and esteem. Tell 
them there is no single spot associated in ray mind 
with a friendship more true, cordial, and whole-soul- 
ed, than theirs ; tell them that my sojourn of a few 
days among them constitutes an epoch, yes, and 
the brightest, most cheering, and most glorious epoc-fa 
in ray life. Tell them that never, while my heart 
retains the power of feeling, shall I cease to be 
deeply grateful for all their courtesy and kindness \ 
[Loud applause.] 

"And now, Mr. President, though I cannot re- 
spond to your welcome in the terms of eloquence, 
1 can at least clasp your hand and assure you how 
happy I am to be once more among my fellow- 



il6 



Life of Henry Clay. 



citizens of New York, aud to meet those who are 
intrusted with the high duty of directing the des- 
tinies of so great and important a city." 

During the delivery of Mr. Clay's speech, the 
saloon deck yielded to the weight of the crowd 
and gave way some three inches, and the alarm 
■was given that it was breaking through. Many 
persons, in consequence, retreated to the lower 

deck. Mr. Clay, looking around as if to see what , , , ,- , , , , 

was about to happen, was assured by the captain fr"'" tj'^ abundance of the heart the mouth speaks 
„, , , y'^ , ,,Tr 11 .; -J '• We receive you, sn% as the honored, the cherish- 

od guest oi this great city. Its inhabitants, withou 



the devotion with which a whole life has been passed 
in upholding her interests — in defending her honor 
— in augmenting her prosperity — and we. sir, citizens 
of the great commercial Metropolis of this western 
World, rejoice that we are permitted to testify to you 
personally our appreciation of the worth, the talents. 
the statesmanship, and the pure patriotism, which 
have combined to surround with a halo of imperish- 
able gloi-y the name of Henry Cl.4.y. 

Our welcome, sir, is not mere lip service, but 



of the boat that there was no danger. " Well," said 
be'. " I like always to know the ground I stand on." 
Through the whole trip he seemed in excellent 
apirits, and many genial sallies from his lips were 
received with loud satisfaction by those surround- 
ing him. 

After he had concluded speaking there was a 
general rush to take him by the hand, but he obtain 



reference to creeds, or sects, or parlies, have come 
forth to greet you, and in their name, sir, with all the 
warmth which words fresh from the heart can con- 
vey, I bid you WELCOME." 

Mr. Clay then rose and replied as follows : 
" Mr. Mayor : I wish I could find adequate lan- 
guage to e.xpress to yon and this audience the feel-'" 



generai rusn to taKe mm oy tne nana, oui ne ooiam- Ruag^; lu c.i.ijic.--d lu _),uu anu imo auuicui.i, <.uk, i<r,v;i- , 
ed silence by waving a splendid bouquet, the gift ings of a grateful heart, the feelings excited by this I 



doubtless of some fair Philadelphian, and said, " Gen- 
tlemen, you know I am a good deal of a compromise 
man. I have a compromise to propose to you, which 
is, that instead of your coming up to shake my hand, 
I shall go around and shake yours." This was 
unanimously agreed to, of course, and he descended 
upon the main deck, exchanging salutations with 
old friends or new ones by the way. Between High- 
Constable Hays and himself a very playful meeting 
took place ; and to whatever quarter of the boat he 
went, he was greeted with the same hearty cheers 
which welcomed him on board at first. Finally, 
after partaking of a lunch, he went upon the hurri- 
cane deck, whence, in the wheel-house, he had a 
fair view of the scenery of the bay on the way up. 

On arriving at the city, instead of landing at Castle 
Garden as had been contemplated, the Vanderbilt 
was obliged by the state of the tide to land at pier 
No. 2. From there Mr. Clay, accompanied by the 
Common Council, the Philadelphia delegation and 
a large number of citizens, marched through the 
muddy streets to Casjle Garden. The crowd in the 
streets and on the Batterj- was immense, and so 
thick that it was difficult for the police to make way 
for the procession to move. As Mr. Clay passed 
along he was greeted by such cheers as only the 
warm enthu.siasm of spontaneous hearts can produce, 
ijn entering Castle Garden an impressive specta- 
:1c presented itself The whole of that vast area 
was filled with people waiting with impatience for 
hie arrival. As soon as he entered he was greeted 
. by deafening cheers, which were repeated until it 
seemed as if the people would not have done with 
Shese proofs of their allcction for their distinguished | 
visiter. At last silence was restored, when Presi- 
dent Franklin spoke as follows to the Mayor : 

•' Your Hon(jr : I have pleasure in behalf of the 
comiri.tujc of the Common Council, to commit to 
your charge, together with that of this vast assem- 
blage of our fellow-citizens, the body of Henry Clay 
of Kentucky." 

After the cheering had again subsided his honor 
the Mayor arose and spoke in these terms : 

" Mr. Clay : The pleasing duty has been assign- 
ed to mc as the representative of the constituted au- 
thorities of the City of New York, to tender to you 
its hospitalities — to extend to you a cordial welcome. 
" It is not necessary for me — indeed, sir, it would 
aot become me on an occasion like the present — to 
advert to your many and valued public services. 
The Vy-bole country gratefully acknowledge the zeal, 



splendid and magnificent reception 

" You, sir. know very well from correspondence 
and information which you have derived from others, 
that the present visit to your great city, is an excep- 
tion to the rule vs'hich I adopted, and the resolution 
1 had formed on leaving home. Called thence by 
private and personal affairs, I had prescribed to my- 
self as a rule which I had thought inflexible, not to 
be drawn off from the direct line of my occupations 
on any account, or upon any occasion. I had deter- 
mined particularly to avoid the current of public 
meetings, and of that affection ^^'hich I had reason 
to suppose existed in the bosoms of a numerous por- 
tion of my fellow-citizens, in the bosoms too, of many 
of the citizens of this vast metropolis, famous for its 
growth and its growing greatness, admirable for the 
intelligence and the high character of its people. 

" But when I received the invitation to visit you, 
other considerations than those which had first gov- 
erned me seemed to demand that I should make au -^ 
exception to the rule, and present myself amon 
you. And when I received the command, for so I |avi 
am in some degree obliged to regard it, of the city 
of New York, my hesitation finally yielded to that 
authority, and I now stand here in the midst of the 
government of your city. 

" But, Mr. Mayor, the president of the councils has 
told you that he has committed my body to your 
custody. Sir, that expression could not fail to ex- 
cite some reflection in my mind and to call up some 
thoughts and feelings there, an expression of which [ 
I feel bound to endeavor to make. 

'■ My arrival here to-day has been signalized by 
the discharge of cannon, by the display of flags, by 
the sound of gay and exulting music, and by the 
shouts and cheers of an affectionate multitude direct- 
ed toward myself. I am proud aud thankful for 
those evidences of regard, aud of value, for the hum- 
ble services of an individual, whom you esteem far 
too highly. But, sir, these testimonies offered to the 
living, could not fail to remind me of the just honors 
about to be paid to the dead. To-morrow's sun will 
rise upon another and a different spectacle than that 
which it to-day beholds, as the venerable remains 
of the illustrious ex-president of the United States 
reach this city. Then, instead of the cheers of joy 
and gladness which have been uttered upon this oc-, ^ 
casion, there will be the still expression of solemiii jj 
and saddened feeling. As I contemplate tlie scenej 
which will be presented on that anticipated arrival,! 
as I recollect the signal services and glorious career 
of the great departed and the position to which he^ 
now has passed — a position which awaits us all — 1 
am moved to suppress the feelings of grateful joy 
which would otherwise overflow within me on an 
occasion so honorable to myself Ought not the coa 
trast between this day's performances— between the 
joy and gladness this day manifested on the arriva'jji 
of au humble individual whose ell'orls in our comn ^ 



Ee 



Mr. Clay visits the RrUgcr's Institute, High Bridge, Institution for the Blind, SfC. 117 



ry's behalf you mucli too highly appreciate, and the 
;eremoiiies which will follow to-morrow, to make a 
ieep impression on our minds? Ought they not 
or the few days remaining to us moderate the un- 
vortliy impulses which most men bring into the 
wife of existence ?— to repress and diminish the vio- 
ence of party contests and the heat and acrimony 
if party feeling, for the brief space which intervenes 
letween the present moment and that moment near 
.t hand when we shall be all laid low in the nar- 
ow house which our venerable and pure-hearted 
'atriot now occupies ? 

" I hope, Mr. Mayor, that we may profit by this 
ontrast, and hereafter entertain less of that cmbit- 
l>red feeling which too often urges us, that wo may 
csti-iin our ardor in the pursuit of cherLshcd objects 
1 the sense of responsibility which we ought to 
hcrish toward the Governor of all, and in the ex- 
lectatiou of that moment which must sooner or later 
iring us all to the dust. 

Mr. Mayor, I could not pass by this topic, thus 
iuggested to me. And now, sir, will you permit me 

tiiank yourself and the public authorities of the 
leople of this city for this splendid reception and 
or the kindness and liberal hospitality which you 
ave authorized me to expect at your hands ?" 

Mr. Clay concluded, with loud applause from 
he assembled multitude, by whom he had also been 
requently interrupted in the course of his remarks. 

The procession was then formed at the Battery, 
nd moved up through Broadway in the appointed 
rder, amid the cheers of the almost impas.sablo mass 
vho had assembled from one end of the street to the 
ther, on this beautiful afternoon, to do honor to 
Ienry Clay. 

On the next day after his arrival, the funeral pro- 
cssion in honor of Mr. Adajis took place, and Mr. 
!lay who participated in it, received no visits and 
voided those manifestations of attachment, which the 
eople seemed universally to be animated with tow- 
ird him. In the forenoon, however, he visited the 
iutger's Young Ladies' Institute, where a great 
lumber of ladies were assembled to receive him. 
le was addressed in behalf of the young ladies by 
he principal who also read an address to him com- 
)osed by members of the Institution. From this 
ddress, we give one or two paragraphs, together 
vitb Mr. Clay's reply : 

" We hail you as the advocate of peace — the rich- 
st boon that can be conferred upon a nation. — And 
vhile we admire the patriotism that would not spare 

1 well-beloved son in the hour of trial, but endured 
vith calm resignation that the fond object of a 
ather's deep affection should be sacrificed upon the 
dtar of his country's good ; .still more would ^ve 
lonor that moral courage that manfully maintains 
he right in the face of the greatest opposition, and 
joldly condemns the spirit of war and aggression. 
To such a spirit, cherished and regarded by the 
lation's rulers, must we be indebted for the bless- 
ngs of peace in our own highly-favojed land ; for 
he extended commerce, and polished society of 
arge and opulent cities, or the grateful retirement, 
uid refining pleasures of the country ; but moat of 
ill, for the knowledge and understanding of those 
irts and sciences which more adorn our country than 
stately edifices, or well-tilled grounds, and our insti- 
utions of learning that shall rightly train the youth- 
ul mind, and fit the tcomen of America for an elevated 
station in this great Republic. And to yoii and men 
of your principles we look for the diffusion of like 
jiercies in a neighboring nation, who.se smiling val- 
eys and fruitful fields have been laid waste by the 
:ruel spirit of rapine and bloodshed. 

" And now, dear sir, in conclusion, we would 
lender our heartfelt acknowledgments of the great 



pleasure and honor which your visit has afforded us. 
The events of this day can never bo forgotten by ns ; 
the rememhranTie of Henry Cr.AY will ever be in- 
delibly engraved upon our hearts. 

" God bless you, and preserve you, and may your 
path continue to he like that of the revered one whom 
the nation now mourn.s — ' shining more and more 
unto the perfect day.' " 
Mr. Clay then replied briefly as follows : 
" I thank you, sir, and the young ladies whom you 
represent for this cordial welcome and distinguished 
reception. Among the agreeable incidents which 
attended my brief visit to this city there is no one to 
which I shall look with more satisfaction and delight 
than upon my having had occasion to meet in this 
place the future mothers and present daughters of 
my country. I did not come here for the purpose 
of making a speech, but I will however say that I 
trust that the noble objects which the founder of this 
institution had in view in its establishment may be 
fully attained. I trust that the opportunities which the 
young ladies possess of improving their minds, culti- 
vating their taste, expanding their understandings 
by the advantages here offered may not be lost, but 
that they may fulfil their high destinies and render 
themselves a blessing to their parents, an ornament 
to their country, and acceptable to that God to whose 
providence I shall always pray for their prosperity, 
fame and happiness." 

Mr. Clay having concluded, withdrew, receiving 
at every step on the passage out of the room the 
smiles of that beautiful crowd of girls, and shaking 
the hands and replying to the salutations and good 
wishes of those who happened to be near enough to 
speak to him. 

On Thursday morning, March 9th, Mr. Clay, iu 
company of the Common Council, drove out to the 
Institution for the Blind. On arriving, he was re- 
ceived by the Principal, who briefly addressed him, 
and drew forth from Mr. Clay one of the most feli- 
citous and beautiful speeches that it was ever the 
fortune of those present to listen to. It was full of 
pathos and the eloquence of elevated sentiment. 
This was followed by poetical addresses to Mr. Clay 
from two young ladies, pupils of the Institute, with 
which he was highly gratified. 

The party then proceeded to the Institution for 
the Deaf and Dumb, where addresses were also de- 
livered. The distinguished visiter was greatly in- 
terested in the modes and results of the instructiou 
administered at those admirable institutions. 

It was intended to visit the High Bridge, but ow- 
ing to the severity of the rain the party returned to 
the city. At six o'clock Mr. Clay dined with the 
Common Council at the New- York Hotel, and in the 
evening appeared at the ball at the Broadway The- 
atre. This was a most brilliant festival. Even the 
violent rain, which prevailed the whole evening, 
seemed to have made little diminution in the crowds 
who were present. We refer especially to the la- 
dies, who were drawn there in large numbers by the 
desire of seeing the honored statesman of Ashland, 
who had consented to attend, principally with the 
desire of gratifying his fair countrywomen. 

The theatre was splendidly illuminated, and the 
stage hung with gorgeous drapery, representing the 
American colors. Mr. Clay entered about nine 
o'clock, in company with Ex-President Van Buren, 
and escorted by the Common Council. He was re- 
ceived with three cheers, and immediately the com- 
pany formed into double lines, extending the whole 
length of the stage, down which the distinguished 



118 



lAfe of Henry Clay. 



guests walked, greeted most entliusiaatically at ev 
ery point, and finally took their station at the farther 
end. where the ladies crowded at once to take them 
by the hand. Mr. Clay seemed in excellent spirits ; 
his fine eye sparkled with kindly feeling, and the 
dense throng which gathered around displayed the 
most marked reverence and attachment toward hira. 

The next morning, Friday, having been appoint- 
ed for the citizens of New-York to pay their per- 
sonal respects to Mr. Clay, he reached the City Hall 
with his honor the Mayor and the members of the 
committee of reception at about eleven o'clock. A 
great number of gentlemen were there collected, 
■waiting for his arrival ; they received him with the 
usual manifestations. As soon as the doors of the 
Governor's room were thrown open, the crowd be- 
gan to pour through them : and a steady stream of 
persons, eager to exchange salutations with the il- 
lustrious visiter, occupied all the avenues to the 
place. It was impossible to obtain admission ex- 
cept by taking a place in the ma-ss and moving with 
it gradually up the stairs toward the door; and the 
number of persons was so great, that it must have 
required nearly an hour for a single individual to 
reach the Governor's room. We never knew such 
a large assemblage on any such occasion. 

In order that the thousands who had collected out- 
eide, finding it utterly impossible to effect an en- 
trance, might not be disappointed in their wish to 
see bim, Mr. Clay appeared on the balcony at the 
close of his levee. After the enthusiastic cheering 
with which he was received had subsided, Mr. Clay 
said he had come here with the expectation of sha- 
king all his friends by the hand ; he had been under- 
going that operation for the last three hours — indeed, 
ever since he had been in the city. Instead of work- 
ing twelve hours, even if he had worked twenty- 
four hours a day, it would not have sufficed ; and as 
he had given all that were in the inside of the build- 
ing his baud, he now gave all on the outside his 
heart ! 

On Saturday morning Mr. Clay received the ladies 
of New-York at the same place, and many thousands 
were present. Mr. Clay arrived at the appointed 
hoar, and was received with all the honors by the 
mass of gentlemen and ladies assembled at the City 
Hall. The business of reception commenced imme- 
diately, Mr. Clay shaking hands and exchanging a 
pleasant word with all, receiving warmer tributes 
from some, and now and then carrying his politeness 
60 far as to yield a lock of hair to the longing scis- 
sors of some patriotic matron. The ceremony was 
continued till after the appointed hour, wlien Mr. 
Clay was compelled to retire, although many ladies 
had not yet enjoyed the pleasure of an interview^. 

On Saturday afternoon Mr. Clay visited the High 
Bridge, in company with several members of the 
Common Council, and was highly gratified with the 
magnificent work. He returned to the city, and was 
entertained in an elegant and delightful dinner by 
J. Phillips Phoenix, Esq., after which he attended 
the performance of the Oratorio of the " Creation," 
by the Sacred Music Society. He was there much 
more an object of attention to the audience than the 
music, and in the course of the evening briefly and 
felicitously replied to an address from the ladies of 
the Society. 

Oa Sunday morning Mr. Clay attended St. Bar- 



tholomew's church with his honor the Mayor, where 
an unusually large congregation were assembled. 
On the way thither he was met bj' a large number 
of Irishmen, who thus sought the opportunity of qui- 
etly expressing to him the warm feelings which his 
effoits in behalf of Ireland have roused in the breasts 
of all her sons. 

On Monday morning (says the Tribune) a large 
assemblage was collected at the New Jersey rail- 
road-office, foot of Liberty street, to witness the de- 
parturc of Mr. Clay. A little past nine, he arrived 
in a carriage with his honor the Mayor and the com- 
mittee of reception, and was received with loud 
cheers b^' the multitude, who not only occupied the 
street, but the roofs of the buildings about the rail- 
road-office, all eager to obtain a view of him. Just 
before the ferry-boat arrived at the wharf, Mr. Clay 
came forward and bowed his farewell to the people, 
who returned it with cheers, after which he took his 
seat again in the carriage and was driven on board 
the boat. As the boat put of!', the assemblage again 
cheered loudly, and so the visit of the veteran and 
adored statesman to the commercial metropolis was 
ended. 

The committee accompanied Mr. Clay to Newark, 
where they resigned him to the authorities of that 
place. He was welcomed there with the utmost en- 
thusiasm, and after spending a short time, went on 
to Philadelphia, where he remained a day privately, 
and then returned home by way of Baltimore. The 
Tribune, in speaking of his vi.sit to New- York, says : 

" Mr. Clay has been with us now for five days, 
and through the whole time has received such to- 
kens of deep respect and enthusiastic attachment as 
no man but himself could have elicited. We now 
see how firmly he stands in the affections, not of a 
fesv per.sons or of any particular class, but of the 
whole people. If there were any doubt before, the 
fact is now undeniable, that no man lives who is so 
truly beloved, revered, and trusted, by the people of 
this city, as He.nkv Clay." 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Mr. Clay's Professional Career— Cbief-Justice Marshall's 
Opinion of him— Personal Details — His Popularity, and 
the Secret of it— lYaits of Character— Richard M. 
Johnson's Kulogy upon him — Mr. Clay's Habits of 
Life — His Wife and Children— Domestic and Social 
Relations— Conclusion. 

Of such paramount interest have been the details 
of Mr. Clay's public career, that we have but little 
room to bestow upon his private and professional 
history, honorable as it has been to him. We have 
alluded to his early successes at the bar, but space 
fails us in the attempt to supply even an imperfect 
sketch of his numerous triumphant efforts in the 
sphere of his profession — efforts which have not 
failed in brilliancy and success with the arrival of 
his threescore and tenth year. 

Owing to the more popular character of his polit- 
ical labors, he has not enjoyed, out of the boundary 
of the Supreme Court, half the reputation which was 
his due as a jurist of extensive attainments and pro- 
found ability. But the writer has been assured by 
the late Mr. Justice Story that Mr. Clay was regard- 
ed by Chief Justice Marshall as second in these re- 
spects to no lawyer in the country. His arguments 
always evinced great reflection, and oftentimes ex- 



Mr. Clay's Professional Career — Personal Details — His Popularity— Anecdote. 119 



tensive legal erudition ; and his appeals were of that 
geuerous and elevated character which rejects ev- 
ery aid of a narrow or pettifogging cast. We must 
content ourselves with a mere reference to this de 
partment of Mr. Clay's history ; referring the reader, 
for information in regard to it, to the reports and rec- 
ords of the United States courts and the courts of 
Kentucky. 

Mr. Clay is now (1S48) in his seventy-first year, 
and, notwithstanding bis varied and arduous labors, 
Hasking his mental and physical powers to an ex- 
traordinary degree, and tho several periods of dan- 
gerous illness to which he has been subject, he bears 
ill his personal appearance the promise of a vigorous, 
healthful, and jjrotracted old age. In stature lie is 
tall, sinewy, erect, and commanding, with finely- 
formed limbs, and a frame capable of much endu- 
rance. From his features you might at first infer 
that he vi^as a hardy backwoodsman, who had been 
accustomed rather to the privations and trials of a 
frontier life than to the arena of debate and the dip- 
lomatic table. But when you meet his full, clear 
gray e3'e, you see in its flashes the conscious power 
of a well-trained and panoplied intellect as well as 
tlie glance of an intrepid soul. Its lustre gives ani- 
mation to the whole countenance, and its varying ex- 
pression faithfully interprets the emotions and senti- 
ments of the orator. Much of the charm of hisspeak- 
ing lies in his clear, rotund, and indescribably melo- 
dious voice, which is of wide compass, and as distinct 
in its low as in its high tones. The ell'ect of it, when 
a passion is to be portrayed, or a feeling of pathos 
aroused, is like that of a rich instrument upon the ear. 
Nothing could be more felicitous than Mr. Clay's 
personal manners and address. They convey to ev- 
ery one the conviction that he is a true man — that 
there is no sham about him and his professions. 
Frank, aifable, natural, and communicative, he was, 
without assumption, as much at home among Euro- 
pean potentates as among his own constituents at a 
barbecue. His perfect self possession and repose of 
manner spring, not so much from long intercourse 
with the world and with society, as from that indige- 
nous democratic instinct, that true nobleness of char- 
acter, which looks unaffectedly to the inward man 
solely, and not to the outside insignia with which he 
may be decorated. 

Never was public man so personally popular in 
the United States. " The true source of his extraor- 
dinary influence," says a writer of the day, " is to be 
found in that most potent of all human influences, a 
ti-ue and read// sympathy. There are no barriers 
between his heart and the hearts of others. Bring 
them in contact, and the efflux of his kindly feeling 
is instantaneous. Instead of sullenly wrapping him- 
self in the thoughts of self, he thinks of others. His 
thoughts become their thoughts, and their thoughts 
become his thoughts. An interchange of kindly feel- 
ing becomes spontaneous and immediate. Mr. Clay 
is not only a strong man in himself, but he possesses 
the ability to command and carry with him all hu- 
man agencies and influences which come within the 
sphere of his action." 

In his integrity and uprightness of character, no 
one who was ever brought in contact with him could 
fail to place the most implicit reliance. " He is an 
honest man," says one, who knows him well ; "he 
is a fair-dealing man ; he is a true man ; he i/3 a man 



who believes in his own principles, who follows his 
own convictions, who avows hi.s own sentiment.s and 
acts on them, who never deserted a friend, who was 
never deterred from his purpose, who was never se- 
duced from what he undertook to do. He is a man 
oi faith, in the largest sense of that word. No man 
has ever been more severely tried in public life in 
this country ; and no man ever exhibited a more sub- 
lime manhood in all his great and repeated exhibi- 
tions of that noblest of all qualities in a public man — 
trustworthiness. The nation may rely on him that 
he is what he is, and that he will do what he says 
he will do." 

" In our opinion the most remarkable mental endow- 
ment of Mr. Clay is his common sense. He is the 
most sagacious public man this country has produced, 
except Benjamin Franklin. His knowledge of aftairs 
seems rather intuitive than the result of experience. 
We have heard him deliver some of his greatest 
speeches. We have read them all. His fame as an 
orator is worldwide. But what is the oratory of 
those great discourses 1 No flowei-s of rhetoric adorn 
them ; no vast fund of acquired erudition enriches 
them. Mr. Clay hardly ever quotes from books. No 
elaborate argumentation. What then? The gran- 
deur of an intellect that seems to perceive truth in- 
tuitively, united to a pathos as fervent as that of De- 
mosthenes : this is the man, full of spirit, full of sense." 
Among the eminent persons who have borne testi- 
mony to those qualities which qualify Mr. Clay so 
worthily for the highest office in the gift of the Amer- 
can people, is Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Ken- 
tucky. We are indebted to the " Richmond Whig" 
for the following anecdote : 

" On the 30th of September last, Colonel Johnson 
being in Staunton, Virginia, a number of gentlemen 
paid him the respect of calling to see him. One of 
the company remarked to him, ' Colonel, when you 
reach the railroad junction, you will be near the Slash- 
es of Hanover.' "The honest old warrior's face imme- 
diately lighted up with an expression of sincerity 
and pleasure, and he eloquently said, ' I shall be de- 
lighted to see that place. Every spot of gronnd Hen- 
ry Clay touches he immortalizes. I have been in pub- 
lic life for forty 3'ears, and in that time have been as- 
sociated with all the great men of the country. Leav- 
ing out Madison and Gallatin, who were old men whei^ 
I first stepped upon the theatre of politics, I will place 
Jefferson first, then Henry Clay. He is a perfect 
Hercules in all the qualities that can adorn human 
nature. Some men may excel him in a single qual- 
ity — for instance, Webster may be a greater logi- 
cian ; or some may be more renowned for deep re- 
searches ; but take Clay all in all, he has not an equal 
in the Union, in either the north or south, the east or 
the west. In moral courage, in physical courage, in 
oratory, in patriotism, and in every noble quality, he 
is without a superior. I have been associated with 
him on committees in connexion with Calhoun, 
Lowndes, Cheves, Webster, and other distinguished 
individuals, but Clay was always the master-spirit. 
We looked up to him as the Ajax Telamon ; and by 
his counsel we were guided in our deliberations. If 
the rest of the committee assembled before him and 
were in doubt how to proceed, when he made his 
appearance all eyes were turned upon him — and we 
were certain to be right when we followed his opin- 
ion. He is a great man — a very great man !' " 

Asa writer, Mr. Clay will creditably compare with 
any of the public men of the day. His style is sin- 
gularly perspicuous, simple, forcible, and correct, 
evincing a preference for good old Saxon words 
over those derived from the Latin and Greek iaa . 



120 



Lift of Henry Clay. 



gnages. In this respect it is perfectly Addisonian. 
His instructions to the Ministers sent to the Congress 
of Panama, his Land Report of 1832, his Report on 
the differences with France, and numerous docu- 
ments which emanated from his pen while ho was 
at the head of the Department of State, may be re- 
ferred to, not only as papers evincing masterly states- 
mansliip, but as excellent specimens of English un- 
deiiled. 

In his tastes and habits of life, Mr. Clay is remark- 
ably simple and uno.^tentatious. He is an early riser, 
and methodical and industrious in the disposition of 
his time. His punctuali ty is proverbial. He is q u ite 
as noted as Washington was for this good quality ; 
which we generally find in the greatest perfection 
with those who have the greatest consideration for 
others. 

In April, 1799, about a year and a half after Mr. 
Clay removed to Kentucky, he married Lucretia 
Hart, daughter of Colonel Hart, a highly respectable 
gentleman of Lexington. Another daughter was 
married to James Brown, Esq., afterward Minister 
to France under Messrs. Monroe and J. Q,. Adams. 
Mrs. Clay was born in 1781, at Hagerstown, Mary- 
land, being four years younger than her husband. 
They have had eleven children, six daughters and 
five sons, and a larger number of grandchildren. 
Pour of the daughters died young. Susan Hart, 
then Mrs. Duralde, of New-Orleans, died at the age 
of twenty. Ann Brown Clay, born in 1807, married 
James Erwine, Esq., of New-Orleans ; and is said 
to have borne a great resemblance to her father in 
her captivating social and intellectual qualities. She 
died in 1835, the last of the six. The news of her 
death so affected Mr. Clay, that he fainted on re- 
ceiving the communication. The affliction of the 
bereavement was most bitter. 

Theodore Wythe Clay, the eldest son, was born 
in 1802. In consequence of an accidental injury he 
tecame deranged, and has been for many years the 
inmate of an insane retreat. Thomas Hart Clay, the 
second son, born in 1803, is married and has a family. 
He is engaged chiefly in the manufacture of hemp, i 
Henry Clay, jr., born in 1811, fell at Buena Vista, 
gallantly leading his men, February, 1847. James 
B. Clay, born in 1817, is married and m the practice 
of the law at Lexington. John M. Clay, the young- 
est of the family, born in 1821, has also been educa- 
ted for the legal profession. 

The virtues of Mrs. Clay, though of the unobtru- 
eive kind, are not the le.s8 admirable and deserving. 
Her benevolence, her industry, her studious atten- 
tion to her household and her guests, have been the 
theme of eulogy with all who have visited Ashland. 
When General Bertrand, the faithful friend of Na- 
poleon, was there, he was much astonished at the 
extent and variety of the duties discharged with so 
much activity and system by Mrs. Clay. Her dairy, 
garden, greenhouse, pleasure-grounds, and the oper- 
ations of a farm of between five and six hundred 
acres, were all under her vigilant and comprehen- 
sive supervision. 

In his domestic and social relations no man could 
be more strictly honorable and blameless than Mr. 



Clay. The charge has been brought against him by 
his enemies of having visited the gaming-table. It 
is admitted that, in early life, Mr. Clay had a fond- 
ness for play— not for the sake of the money sported, 
but for the company and the excitement. He has, 
on several occasions, given up large sums that he 
had won, and often saved men from ruin. He has 
never played at a public table or at gambling-houses. 
For upward of thirty years he has not played at any 
s^ame of hazard. Never to his knowledge has a 
pack of cards been seen at Ashland. We mention 
these facts, not that we suppose that Mr. Clay ob- 
jects to the recreation of cards, where nothing is 
staked, but because the grossest misrepresentations 
and the most exaggerated stories in regard to him, 
in connexion with this .subject, have been made cur- 
rent by his enemies. We have fairly staled the head 
and front of his offending. Many instances of the 
justice and magnanimity which he carries into all 
transactions of a pecuniary nature might be men- 
tioned. But we forbear. 

It is with Mr. Clay's public history that we have 
mainly to deal. The legislative annals of the nation 
are the sources from which it may be derived. There 
it stands amply and immutably recorded, through a 
period of more than forty years. From those mag- 
nificent quarries of the past, the materials will be 
drawn for a monument more perennial than marble 
or brass. Never were the views of a public man 
upon all questions of public policy more ingenuous- 
ly and unequivocally expressed — more clearly and 
broadly defined. On no one point is there an indi- 
cation of shuffling — of a disposition to evade or defer 
the responsibility of uttering an opinion. In contem- 
plating his career, we are often reminded of these 
lines by the author of " Philip Van Artevelde :" 

" All my life long 
I have beheld with mo.st respect the man 
Who knew himself and knew the ways before him, 
And from amongst them chose considerately, 
\S'ith a clear foresight, not a blindfold courage. 
And, having chosen, with a steadfast mind 
Pursued his purposes." 

Such a man is Henry Clay ! And in no one public 
act of his life does he seem to have been actuated 
by other than pure and patriotic motives. " I woitld 

RATHER BE RIGHT THAN BE PRESIDENT." In that 

expression we have a key to his conduct from the 
moment he first entered the national councils ; and in 
that expression we have an earnest of the single- 
heartedness of purpose with which the affairs of the 
country would be conducted under his administra- 
tion. But the Presidency could not add to his fame. 
The wonder of the wise and the good that he was 
not President, would speak louder in his behalf and 
be a prouder tribute to his worth than their exulta- 
tion at his success. The absence of his bust from the 
triumph will be more noted than its presence could 
ever be. 

Whatever the Future may have in store, " the 
Past is secure." His name lives in the hearts of his 
countrymen. His fame is incorporate with the his- 
tory of the republic. May they both be blended witli 
the highest honor which a free people can bestow ! 



THE END. 



i 



■^.J; 



i,-i,- 



\ 



POPULAR LECTURES 

ON 

SCIENCE AND ART; 

DELIVERED IN THE 
CHIEF CITIES AND TOWNS IN THE UNITED STATES, 

BY DIONYSIUS LARDNER, 

Doctor of Civil Lfiw, Fellow of the Royal Societies of I/ondon nnd Edinburgh, Member of the Universities of 

Cambridge and Dublin, and fonnerly Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy 

in the University of London, &c. &c. 



After Dr. Lardner had brought to a close his Public Lectures in the United States, he was 
prevailed upon by the Publishers to prepare a complete and authentic edition for pubhcation. — 
The general interest which, for a period of several years, these beautiful expositions and commen- 
taries on the Natural Sciences had excited, and which was so universally felt and acknowledged, 
induced the Publishers to believe that their publication would be most acceptable, as well as per- 
manently beneficial, to the American public. In these published Lectures it will be found that 
the Author has preserved the same simplicity of language, perspicuity of reasoning, and felicity of 
illustration, w^hich rendered the oral discourses so universally popular. While the Work -was 
passing through the press, and as the different Numbers or Parts were circulated, the Publisliers 
received from all sections of the Union the most flattering encomiums of the usefulness of the work 
and of the manner in which it was printed and illustrated. It was gratifying to the Publishers to 
notice the interest taken in the work by Mechanics. In one workshop in New- York, Thirty of 
the Journeymen purchased the Numbers as they were published ; and, m several large establish- 
ments, the workmen formed clubs and purchased the work at the wholesale or dozen price. The 
number of Lithographic and Wood Engravings, large and email, in the whole series, is 3SO. 

Wo do not know that we can give a better idea of the work, to those who have not seen it, than 
by publishuig the followi.ag summary of the matters treated of in the different Lectures: 



LECTURE I THE PLURALITY OF WORLBS. 

Contemplation of the Finuament — Reflections 
thereby suggested — Limited Powers of the Tele- 
scope — What it can do for us — Its ett'ect on the Ap- 
pearances of the Planets- Are the Planets Inhabit- 
ed ? — Plan of the Solar System — Uniform Supply of 
Light and Warmth — Expedient for Securing it — 
Diflerent Distances of the Planets do not necessarily 
infer ditferent Temperatures, nor different Degrees 
of Light — Admirable Adaptation of the Rotation of 
the Earth to the Organization of its Inhabitants — Mi- 
nor and Major Planets— Short Days ou the latter — 
The Seasons — Similar Arrangement on tive Planets — 
The Atmosphere — Many Uses of the Atn'osphere— 
Clouds — Rain, Hail, and Snow — Mountains on the 
Planets — Land and Water — Weights of Bodies on 
the Planets — Appearances of the Sun, &c. &c. 

LECTURE II THE SUN. 

The Most Interesting Object in the Fii-mament — 
Its Distance — How Measured — Its Magnitude — How 
Ascertained^— Its Bulk laid Weight — Fonu — Time of 
Rotation — Spots — Its Physical Constitution — Lumin- 
ous Coating — Temperattire — Luminous Matter, &c. 

LECTURE III ECLIPSES. 

Lunar and Solar Eclipses — Causes — Shadow of the 
Earth — And Moon — Magnitude — When they can hap- 
pen — Great Solar Eclipse described by Halley — Eclip- 
tic Limits, &c. &c. 

LECTURE IV THE AUKORA BOREAHS. 

Origin of the Name — Produced by Electricity — 
General Phenomena of Auroras — Vai-ious Examples 
of this Meteor — Blot's Excursion to the Shetland 
Mes to observe the Aurora — Lottin's Observations ia 



1838-9 — Various Auroras seen by him — Theory of 
Biot — Objections to it— Hypothesis of Faraday — Au- 
roras seen on the Polar Voyage of Captain Franklin, 
&c. &c. 

LECTURE V ELECTRICITY. 

Electric Phenomena obsei-ved by the Ancients — 
Thales— Gilbert de Magnete— Otto Guencke's Elec- 
tric Machine— Hawkesbee's Experiments — Stephen 
Grey's Discoveries — Wheeler and Grey's— Dufaye's 
Discovery— Invention of the Leyden Vial— Singular 
Effects of the first Electric Shocks— Experiments of 
Watson and Bevis — Experiments on Conductors — 
Franklin's Experiments and Letters— His Experi- 
ments on the Leyden Vial— His Discovery of the 
Identity of Lightning and Electiicity— Reception of 
his Suggestions by the Royal Society— His Kite Ex- 
periment—His Right to .this Discovery denied by 
Arago— His Claim Vindicated — Invention of Conduct- 
ors — Canton's Experiments — Discovery of Induction 
— Inventor of the Condenser — Works of jEpinus — 
Theory of Symmer — Experiments of Coulomb— Bal- 
ance of Torsion — Electricity of tho Atmosphere — 
Effects of Flame — Experiments of Volta — Laroisier 
and liaplace— Analytical Work of Poisson. 

LECTURE VI THE MINOR PLANETS. 

JI'/prcMry— Transit over the Sun— Relative Position 
—Difficulty of Observing it— Fe?(ws— Diurnal Motion 
of Venus and Mercury indicated by the Shadows of 
Mountains— Axis of Rotation— Seasons, Climates, 
and Zones- Orbits and Transits of Mercury and Ve- 
nus—Mountains on Mercury and Venu.s — Influence 
of the Sun at iMercury and Venus- Twilight on Mer- 
cury and Venus — Mam — Atmosphere of Mars— Phys- 
ical Constitution of Mars— Has Mars a SatcUita ? — 
Appearance of the Sun at Mars, &,c. 



DR. LARDNER S LECTURES. 



LECTURE VII WEATHER ALMANACS. 

Merits of Wenthor Almanacs— Frisht Produced by 
Biela's Comet — London Water Panic— London Air 
Panic— London Bread Panic- Rage for Weather Al- 
manacs — Patrick Murj)hy's Pretensions— Compari- 
son of the Predictions with the Event — Morrison's 
Weather Almanac — Charlatiinism of these Publica- 
tions — Great Frost of 1838 ia London — Other Visita- 
tions of Cold. 

LECTURE VIII HALLEY'S COMET. 

Predictions of Science — Structure of the Solai- 
System — Motion of Comets — Intervals of their Ap- 
pearance — Halley's Comet — Its History — Newton's 
Conjectures — Sagacity of Voltaire — Halley's Re- 
searches — Foretell* the Appearance of the Comet — 
Principle of Gravitittion applied to its Motion — Anec- 
dotes of Lalande and Madame Lepaute — Minute and 
Circumstantial Prediction of the Reap])earance of 
HaUey's Comet — Discovery of the Planet Herschel 
anticipated by Clairault — Second Prediction of its 
Return in 1835 — Prediction fulfilled— Observatione 
on its Appearance in 1835, &c. &:c. 

LECTURE IX THE ATMOSPHERE. 

Atmospheric Air is Material — Its Color — Cause of 
the Blue Sky — Cause of the Green Sea — Air has 
Weight — Experimental Proofs — Air has Inertia — Ex- 
amples of its Resistance — It acquires Monng Force — 
Air is Impenetrable — Experimental Proofs — Elastic 
and compressing Forces equal — Limited Eight of the 
Atmosphere, &c. &c. 

LECTURE X THE NEW planets. 

Indications of a Gap in the Solar System — Bode's 
Analogy — Prediction founded upon it — Piazzi discov- 
ers Ceres— Dr. Olbers discovers Pallas — Harding dis- 
covers Juno— Dr. Olbers discovers Vesta — Indica- 
tions aflbrded by these Bodies of the Truth of Bode's 
Predistions — Fragments of Broken Planet — Others 
probably still Undiscovered — Singularities of their 
Appearance, Sec. &c. 

LECTURE XI THE TIDES. 

Correspondence between the Tides and Phases of 
the Mroon shown by Kepler — Erroneous popular No- 
tion of the Moon's Influence — Actual Manner in 
which the Moon Operates — Spring Tides — Counter- 
action of the Sun and Moon — Neap Tides — Priming 
and Lagging of the Tides— Effects of Continents and 
felanda on the l^des — General Progress of the Great 
I'idal Wave— Range of the Tide, &c. &c. 

LECTURE XII LIGHT. 

Structure of the Eye— Manner in which Distant 
Objects become Visible— Velocity of Light — Account 
of its Discovery by Roemer — Measurement of tlie 
Wavei of Light by Newton — Color produced by 
Waves of different Magnitudes — Corpuscular 'I'he- 
ory— Undulatory 'I'heory — Relations of Light and 
Heat, ifcc. &c. 

LECTURE XIII THE MAJOR PLANETS. 

Space between Mars and Jupiter— Jupiter's Dis- 
tance and Period— Magnitude and Weight — Velocity 
— Appearance of Disk — Day and Night on Jupiter — 
Absence of Seasons — Telescopic Appearance — His 
Belts— His Satellites— The Variety of his Months- 
Magnificent Appearance of the Moon as seen from 
Jupiter— Saturn — Diunial Rotation — Atmosphere- 
His Rings— Their Dimensions — Appearances and 
Disappearances of the Rings — Satellites — Herschel 
or Uranus — Distance and Magnitude — Moons — Rea- 
sons why there is no Planet beyond his Orbit. 

LECTURE XIV reflection of light. 

Ray of Light — Pencil of Light— Reflection — Its 
Laws — Imago of an Object in a plane Reflector — Re- 
flection of Curved Surfaces — ('oncave Reflectors — 
Convex Reflectors — Images in spherical Rcflector.« — 
Illusion of the air-drawn Dagger — Effects of common 
Looking-Glassea Analyzed — A Flattering Glass ex- 
plained—Metallic Specula— Reflection in Liquids — 
Image of the Banks of a Lake or River. 



LECTURE XV prospects of steam 

NAVIGATION. 
Retrospect of Atlantic Steamers — Origin of the 
Great Western — Cunard Steamers — Can Steam Pack- 
et-Ships be successful? — Defects of Common Pad- 
dle-^^'^leels— Defects of the present Steam-Vessels 
as applicable to War— Difliculty of long Ocean- 
Voyages — Ericsson's Propeller — Leper's Propeller — 
Method of raising the Propeller out of the Water 
— Fuel — Fonn and Arrangement of the proposed 
Steam Packet-Ships — War Steamers — The Prinse- 
ton, &.C. &c. 

LECTURE XVI the barometer. 

Maxim of the Ancients — Abhorrence of a Vacuum 
— Suction — Galileo's Investigations — Torricelli dis- 
covers the Atmospheric Pressure — The Barometer — 
Pascal's Experiment — Requisites for a good Barom- 
eter — Means of securing them — Uses of the Barom- 
eter — Weatner-Gkiss — Rules in common Use absurd 
— Correct Rules — Measurement of Hights — Ett'ect of 
a Leather Sucker — How Flies adhej-e to Ceilings, and 
Fishes to Rocks — Breathing — Common Bellows — 
Forge Bellows — Tea-Pot — Kettle — Ink Bottles — 
Pneumatic Trough— Gurgling Noise in lecanting 
Wine. 

LECTURE XVII the mooj». 

Popular Interest attached to the Moon — Its Dis- 
tance—Rotation — Same Face always toward the 
Earth — Phases — Clianges of Position — Atmosphere — 
Optical Test — Physical Qualities of Moonlight— Is 
Moonlight Warm or Cold ? — Does Water Exist on 
the Moon ? — Does the Moon Influence the Weather ? 
— Mode of determining this — Physical Condition of 
the Lunar Surface — Appeai'ance of the Earth as seen 
from the Moon — Prevalence of Mountains upon it 
— Their general Volcanic Character — Telescopic 
Views of the Moon — Condition of a Lunar Crater, 
(fee. &c. 

LECTURE XVIII heat. 

Heat as a Branch of Elementary Physics neglect- 
ed — Is a Universal Agent in Nature — In Art — In Sci- 
ence — Astronomy — Chemistry — In every Situation 
of Life — Applications of it in Clothing and artificial 
Warming and Cooling — Lighting — Admits of easy 
Explanation — Th-ermomccer — Melting and Boiling 
Points — Evaporation — Specific Heat — Heat produced 
by Compression — Radiation — Conduction — Incan- 
descence. &c. &c. 

LECTURE XIX the Atlantic steam 

question. 
The Project proposed in 1835 — Previous Condition 
of Steam Na-i-igation — Practicability of the AtUntic 
Voyage not denied or doubted — Report of the Meet- 
ingof the British Association at Bristol— Extract from 
the London Times — Ocean Voyages for Steamers 
and Sailing Vessels compared— Eti'ect of the West- 
erly Winds in the Atlantic — Cunard Line of Steam- 
ers — The Support received by them from the British 
Post-Office — Failure of the Project to Establish New- 
York and Liverpool Steam-Liners — Essay on the 
Question, " Has Atlantic Steam Navigation been Suc- 
cessful ?" &c. &c. 

LECTURE XX galvanism. 

Origin of the Discovery — Accidental Efi'ect on 
Pi-ogs — Ignorance of Galvani — His Experiments on 
the Frog — Accidental Discovery of the Effect of Met- 
allic Contact — Animal Electricity— Galvani Opposed 
by Volta — Volta's Theory of Contact Prevails- Fab- 
roni's Experiment — Invention of t!ie Voltaic Pile — 
Napoleon's Invitation to Volla — Anecdote of Napo- 
leon — Decomposition of Water — Cruick^hank's Ex- 
periments — Davy commences his Researches — Calo- 
rific Eft'ects of the Pile— Davy's celebrated Bakerian 
Lecture — Prize awarded him by the French Acade- 

iny His Discoveries — Decomposition of Potash and 

Soda— New Metals, Pota.ssium and Sodium — Dis- 
covery of Barium — Strontium, Calcium, and Ma^iie- 
sium — Rapid Discovery of tho other new Metals, 
&c. &.C. 



ASTRONOMY, 

BY M. ARAGO ; 

WITH ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS, 

BY DR. LARDNER: 



ILLUSTRATED BY FIFTY-THREE DIAGRAMS OR ENGRAVINOS. 



PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 

To all who are conversant with the existing state of Astronomical Science in Europe, it is well knowa 
that, in addition to the regular duties of hi.s olhce as Royal Astronomer of France, M. Arago has been in tb« 
practice of delivering each season, at the Observatoire, a Course of Lectures of a popular kind, which are 
attended by all classes of well-informed persons, including ladies in considerable numbers. These dis- 
courses are given extemporaneously in the strictest sense of the term, and in style and character bear a 
close analogy to those delivered by Dr. Lardner in this country within the last few years. It does not ap. 
pear that M. Aingo ever designed their publication, nor that he ever even committed them to writing. A 
person employed by one of the Brussels publishers reported them, and the publication reputed to be 
M. Arago's Lectures is nothing more than this report, which though it could not be legally published or 
circulated in France, obtained through the Belgian booksellers and their con'espondents an extensivo 
illegal circulation in tlmt country. A translation of this report was circulated largely in England. 

The publishers of the present volume, being aware that errors of a more or less important kind must, 
snder such circumstances, have prevailed in the original Belgian edition, and still more in the English trans- 
lation, and that omissions and chasms must have required to be filled up by some person conversant with 
the Science, and capable of writing upon it in an easy and familiar style, applied to Dr. Lardner, and 
induced him to revise the reported Lectures, and to add to them such topics as might appear desirable to 
give them increased utility. The result of this arrangement has been the present volume. 

Dr. Lardner desires it to be understood that he should not have felt himself justified in interpolating 
any work, however elementary, published with the actual sanction of M. Arago's name. But, it being 
understood, and indeed manifested by unequivocal internal evidence, that the Belgian report was unauthor- 
ized and unauthentic, and the circulation of some translation of it in this country being rendered inevitable 
by the very popularity of its reputed author, it was better that a carefully revised copy should be publiebed 
than a mere reprint of the English translation of the imperfect Belgian report. 



CONTENTS 



LECTURE L 
General Laws of the Reflection of Light — General 
Laws of the Refraction of Light — Lenses — Refract- 
ing and Reflecting Telescopes — Structure of the Eye. 

LECTURE n. 
History of Astronomy — Preliminary Ideas— Defini- 
nitions— Capricornus (Caper) — Aquarius — Pisces — 
Aries — Taurus — Gemini — Cancer — Leo — Virgo — Li- 
bra — Scorpio — Sagittariu s. 

LECTURE IIL 
Aspect of the Heavens — ^Apparent Motions of the 
Heavenly Bodies. 

LECTURE IV. 
Hie Fixed Stare. 

LECTURE V. 
Distances of the Planets— The Sun— Physical Con- 
•titution of the Sun— The Moon — Physical Constitu- 
tion of the Moon. 

LECTURE VI. 
Mercury — Physical Constitution of Mcrcurv — Ve- 
nns — Appearance of Venus as she moves round the 
Sun — Physical Constitution of Veuus. Superior 
Planets : Mars — Physical Constitution of Mars — The 
four Telescopic Planets : Juno. Ceres, Pr.llas, Vesta. 

LECTURE Vn. 
Jupiter and his Satellites — Physical Constitution of 
lupiter — Saturn, his Ring and his Satellites — Her- 
■coel, or Uranus, and his Satellites. 



LECTURE VIIL 
Distances, Diameters, Volumes, «fec. of the Planets 
— Kepler's Laws — Universal Attraction — Of the 
Masses of the Planets. 

LECTURE IX. 
Figure of the Earth — Dimensions of the Earth — 
The Earth's Motion— Diurnal Rotation of the Earth 
— Annual Motion of Earth. 

LECTURE X. 
Inequalhieg of the Moon and of the Earth. 

LECTURE XT. 
Comets — iHalley'fl and other Comets — Phycical 
Constitution of Comets. 

LECTURE XU. 
Eclipses of the Moon— Eclipses of the Sun. 

LECTURE XUI. 
The Tides. 

LECTURE XIV. 
Determination of Latitude and Longitude. 

LECTURE XV. 
The Atmosphere— Of the Moon in the HorisoB— 
The llar^'est Moon. 

LECTURE XVL 
The Seasons and the Days— The Earth's Tempera- 
ture. 

LECTURE XVIL 
The Calendar. 

APPENDIX. 
Table of the Constellations, with the Number Oi 
Stars in each, as far as those of the sixth magnitude — 
Summary. 



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THE 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 




HENRY CLAY. 





BY EPES SARGENT, ESQ 



U 



NEW BDITION, 

REVISED, ENLARGED, AND BROUGHT DOWN TO THE YEAR 1848, 

BY THE AUTHOR. 




m^^ 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY GREELEY & M*=ELRATH, 

TEIBUNB BUILDINGS, 154 NASSAU STREET. 
1848. 






HYDEAULICS AND MECHANICS. 

A Descriptive and Historical Account of Hydraulic and other Machines foi 
raising Water, ancient and modem ; with observations on various subjects 
connected with the Mechanic Arts, including the Progressive Develop- 
ment of the Steam-Engine. Descriptions of every variety of Bellows, Pis- 
ton, and Rotary Pumps, Fire-Engines, Water-Rams, Pressure-Engines, 
Air-Machines, Eolipiles, &c. Remarks on Ancient Wells, Air-Beds, Cog- 
wheels, Blowpipes, Bellows of various People, Magic Goblets, Steam 
Idols, and other Machinery of Ancient Temples. To which are added 
Experiments on Blowing and Spouting Tubes, and other original Devices. 
Nature's Modes and Machinery for raising Water. Historical Notices 
respecting Siphons, Fountains, Water Organs, Clepsydrae, Pipes, Valves, 
Cocks, &c In Five Books. 

BY THOMAS EWBANK. 

ILLUSTRATED SY 300 It^ISIGRAVINGS. 

This volume, on the various machinery connected with the raising of water, is a very interesting 
production ; not only to the Experimental Philosopher, the Mechanician, and the Operative Trades- 
man, who are engaged in the researches and work combined with the objects specified in lb« 
Treatise, but also to every ordinary reader who is solicitous to enlarge his general informa- 
tion, and who wishes to combine amusement with the topics which attract his attention. 

It is Impossible in this concise notice, to detail a minute syllabus of a book, the mere topical 
index of the contents of which occupies nearly eight pages, numbering about one thousand dis- 
tinct articles ; but a general view is presented, from which the nature and value of the disser- 
tation can easily and correctly be estimated. 

The fiist book, which is subdivided into eighteen chapters, comprises a narrative of the various 
" Primitive and Ancient Devices for Raising Water," which are exemplified by sixty-seven en- 
graved specimens of their diversified contrivances. This is not merely a dry philosophical 
comment, for there are many episodes commingled with it of a peculiarly interesting charac- 
ter, of which the preliminary remarks on the historical accounts of warriors, and the section 
kk chapter sixteen, on the " Flattery of Despots by Men of Science," may distinctly be mentioned. 

The second book, which includes seven chapters, describes the " Machines for Raising Water by 
the Pressure of the Atmosphere." With this part are incorporated thirty engravings, delineating 
the chief inventions which have been used in that department. 

The third book, containing nine chapters, develops the " Mechanics for Raising Water by 
Compressure, independently of Atmospheric Influence," with sixty-nine pictorial representationt 
of bellows, pumps, and fire-engines. The discussions respecting water-works and fire-engines 
are full of instruction, and combine more information upon those important topics than can be 
found, it is believed, in any other work that ever has been published. 

The fourth book is extended to nine chapters, and displays the " Machines for Raising Wa- 
ter, chiefly of Modem Origin, including Early Applications of Steam for that Purpose," •»rith 
thirty-one engravings. This portion of the volume is very racy, especially the details concern- 
ing the Altars and Heron's Spiritaha, with the introductory paragraphs to chapter three, from 
pa^e 381 to 391, and the notice of the Eolipilic Idols. 

The fifth book, which also comprises nine chapters, with eighty-four engravings, unfolds th« 
" Novel Devices for Raising Water, with an Account of Siphons, Cocks, Valves, Clepsydrae,* 
fee, the seventh chapter of wi:iich, on Fountains, condenses a large quantum of information upoB 
that cooling and refreshing topic, which is followed by an attractive elucidation of hydraulk 
organs. 

^F" The above work is now publishing in EIGHT PARTS or numbei-a, 
at 25 cents each. GREELEY & McELRATH, Publishers, 

Tribune Buildings, New York. 



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